Online troll pleads guilty to abusing TMO at Rugby World Cup in landmark case

World Rugby welcomes prosecution for online abuse of match official

An online troll who sent abusive messages on social media to a match official during the Rugby World Cup has pleaded guilty in what is being seen as a landmark case for the sport.

The Australia-based rugby fan was charged after the television match official and his wife received threatening and abusive messages via Facebook following the match between England and Samoa at the tournament in France last year. Samoa were leading in their final World Cup Pool D game in Lille, only to have a try disallowed after the conversion had been taken when referee Andrew Brace, guided by the TMO, detected a slight knock-on. England came back to win 18-17.

Aaron Isaia, 22, appeared in Beenleigh Magistrates Court in Queensland and pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to menace or harass. The New Zealand-born man was handed a $1000 good behaviour bond for 12 months.

The television match official and his wife received threatening and abusive messages via Facebook following the match between England and Samoa at the Rugby World Cup in France last year. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Isaia was identified and located in Australia via World Rugby’s online abuse programme. The governing body deploys digital experts Signify Group who use an AI-driven system called the Threat Matrix to monitor social media.

Alan Gilpin, the World Rugby chief executive, said: “World Rugby welcomes this landmark outcome. The vile and toxic abuse is an all too common occurrence for many sports men and women and public figures, and we hope that this sends a very strong message to online trolls that such behaviour is totally unacceptable and that the sport and the authorities are prepared to take action.”

Further cases are pending in New Zealand, France and South Africa as a result of the Threat Matrix programme.