Hmm, it's a tricky one for sure. I mean with the introduction of social media (and the increasing interaction between fans, refs and players etc) it allows people to directly criticize a persons performance. Fans usually vent their frustrations online (a lot of us do it on here, no ones innocent of that) as a way to 'let go' of those emotions and to spark debate. There has been a lot of criticism of Cobb on here in the past, for example. If it is true about him searching himself on Twitter then unfortunately that is his problem. In a performance sport the one thing you should not do is to google yourself etc. Especially if you take it to heart what people say. Me personally, I love to her reviews on my performance. When I played for Dudley Hill, I would regularly ask my grandad what he thought, the coaches, and I have had many a converstation with the chairman and also pimp007 (Ste). By doing so, it allows me to evaluate my game and improve. If I took what got said to heart things might have been different. Cobb obviously can't take criticism well if he has to search himself.
In terms of the homophobia, no person should be subject to that. However now a days words like gay, puff and to an extent faggot are used all the time, whether that be for banter reasons or insults. Either way the words don't really mean or carry the weight they used to do. If Cobb had come out gay and then was called a faggot, then that is blatant homophobia and should be dealt with accordingly. However if he hasn't and was called it, it's a slightly different matter. One of my friends and I always call each other names, gay, puff etc. He came out last year. So naturally I was careful about what I said from then on. And his words were "Why are you discriminating me because of my sexuality?". So naturally I asked what he meant. And he said "You are treating me differently because I am gay. Your terminology has changed and it feels like you are treating me differently than what you used to do. The words we used have no negative effect because they are used constantly without people emphasizing the meaning".
Criticism is bullying in the eyes of today's society. What you are supposed to do is congratulate them for trying and reward mediocrity!
