Online investigators hired by IRFU and player association to probe online harassment incidents
Safeguarding Rugby Players from Online Abuse: Signify Group's Threat Matrix Service
In an effort to combat the rising issue of online abuse, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), Rugby Players Ireland (RPI), and World Rugby have partnered with Signify Group, a British company specialising in AI and human analysis to monitor, investigate, and report abusive content on social media.
Many players have expressed a decreased willingness to post content on social media due to the level of abuse, particularly on platform X. This partnership is a proactive step to address this concern and promote players' mental health.
Signify Group's Threat Matrix service provides year-round protection for Men's, Women's, Academy, and Provincial players, coaches, match officials, IRFU administrators, and their family members. The service uses technology-driven detection to identify online abuse, with human review to assess and generate actionable evidence for sanctions such as venue bans and police reports.
One of the key elements of Signify Group's effectiveness is a dedicated reporting and investigation process for harassment sent via Direct Messages, improving response to more private forms of abuse. In-person education and training workshops are also delivered by Signify to raise awareness and equip players and officials with skills to stay safe online.
Positive endorsements from Munster Rugby’s CEO and IRFU leadership emphasise the importance of player welfare and the credibility of Signify's track record in sports safeguarding. Since partnering with World Rugby in 2023, Signify Group has flagged over 60,000 abusive messages for the organisation, 11 of which were reported to the police. Seven of these reported abusive messages have resulted in prosecutions or official legal warnings according to Signify Group.
While Signify's approach is technologically advanced and comprehensive, academic research suggests that protections remain challenging, especially regarding online abuse towards female athletes and shifting reporting responsibility to victims. Policies and detection mechanisms are still evolving to adequately safeguard all sports participants.
The goal of the partnership between IRFU, RPI, and Signify Group is not to stop fans from expressing opinions online, but to allow players to be more open when interacting on social media. Conversations with players revealed they tend to focus more on negative comments rather than positive ones, and the moderation provided by Signify Group is hoped to alleviate this issue.
Signify Group can report potentially abusive content to the social media platform, the IRFU, or in very extreme cases, alert law enforcement. They have also been successful in having troll accounts shut down. The Director of Communications and Legal Affairs at RPI, Richard McElwee, stated that they have been trying to safeguard players from online abuse for years.
Signify Group has a long-standing relationship with Fifpro, the largest players' representative in soccer. They have previously worked with Fifpro, the Olympics, and World Rugby. In 2024, Arsenal announced it had banned three fans from attending games over online abuse after hiring Signify to monitor social media posts for the club.
McElwee believes the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns contributed to a greater amount of online abuse. Despite these challenges, Signify Group's Threat Matrix service, combined with educational initiatives, represents a leading and proactive approach in rugby to tackle online abuse, demonstrating tangible support and protection for players, coaches, officials, and families in this digital safeguarding arena.
Technology plays a crucial role in Signify Group's Threat Matrix service, using AI and human analysis to monitor social media for abusive content towards rugby players, coaches, officials, administrators, and their family members.
The partnership between IRFu, RPI, and Signify Group also aims to improve the mental health of rugby players by addressing the issue of online abuse on social media, particularly on platform X, where many players have expressed a reluctance to post content due to abuse.
