Letting the team down? Examining sport fans reactions to Aaron Smith’s ‘Toilet Tryst’ on social media

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ABSTRACT Recent scholarly attention in the field of sports crisis communication has focused on audience reception and participation in crisis communication messages in digital and social media. While studies find that fans launch their own defence of their favourite stars, a comparative analysis of fan enacted crisis communication across multiple social media networks is lacking. This study extends Situational Crisis Communication Theory in the context of athlete reputational crises (ARCs) and examines the use of crisis communication messages in the sporting arena through a study of New Zealand’s All Black Aaron Smith’s 2016 ‘Toilet Tryst’. It builds on previous findings by comparatively analysing 1) the crisis communication messages voiced by Smith and All Blacks management; 2) associated elite opinion in media coverage; and 3) comparative analysis of communication strategies used by fans across a range of social media networks. While Smith and All Blacks employed traditional strategies of apology, we found that fans on social media often defended Smith and the All Blacks, and used newer strategies of expression of disappointment and humour to diminish and curtail reputational impact. However, while there was a little variation in crisis response strategies between the social media networks, there was more within the sub-rhetorical spaces within a social media platform. Implications for and future research in sport fans social media crisis communication strategies are discussed.