The Football Post That Took Clickbait Too Far
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The Football Post That Took Clickbait Too Far

The Football Post That Took Clickbait Too Far

Online clickbait is nothing new and can be seen in all corners of the internet. And in the case of the online football world, it can arguably be seen more than in any other.

And whilst many forms of clickbait can be harmless to an extent, for example a small attempt at over exaggerating a headline in order to gain more attention by using more dramatic language, there are some examples that go too far.

Late at night on Wednesday November 12th, part of Exeter City’s St. James Park ground was covered in a blaze of fire. Emergency services were called to the scene just after 22:00 GMT after smoke was seen from the Well Street end of the stadium.

Firefighters began tackling the fire and within two hours it had been extinguished completely, with thankfully no injuries reported.

Whilst the cause of the fire remains unknown, the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue fire service said the fire started in an electrical unit, before spreading to a temporary building. However, an electrical fault has been ruled out as a cause as per a statement from Exeter City.

The club confirmed the blaze began in an area used for waste storage and clean-up work is underway to repair any damages to the stadium and the surrounding area that may have been caused as a result.

An incident and story such as that is bound to be picked up by many mainstream media outlets to report on, however one account @DeadlineDayLive on X (formally Twitter) controversially, used an AI generated image of the Bradford City Valley Parade fire of 1985 as their main article image when reporting the incident. Accompanied by the headline “Devastating fire breaks out at iconic stadium.”

The Valley Parade fire is remembered as one of English Football’s most tragic hours. The final game of the 1984/85 season between Bradford City and Lincoln City saw what was due to be an afternoon of celebration, turn into one of sheer disaster, as a lit cigarette discarded by a supporter dropped onto litter and rubbish build up in the holes in the floor leading underneath the stand.

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Within minutes, the cigarette lighting with the debris had caused the then wooden floorboards of the main stand to ignite, quickly engulfing the whole stand as a result of the windy conditions. Leading to severe panic as supporters tried to escape to safety.

As a result of the tragedy, 56 people lost their lives with a further 265 injured. With the entirety of the stadium’s main stand destroyed.

Understandably, the reaction to such a post has been met with strong criticism, with replies regarding the post and the media included as ‘disgusting’, ‘disgraceful’ and ‘vile’. With both Bradford City supporters and general football fans taking offence to the way of reporting and use of media.

One quote reply stated, “Three million followers and they’re using an AI photo of the Bradford City fire to report on the small fire at Exeter’s St James Park, what a disgrace, still time to delete this.”

The post has since been deleted by the account, however the article on their website remains public, still displaying the image used of the Bradford fire seen in the original X post.

The article also fails to reference the Bradford fire in any of it’s text, further questioning the use of the particular image and why displaying an image of a catastrophic and unrelated event from forty years ago was deemed as necessary by those responsible.

The example is just the latest that has raised further questions about the direction of media reporting in football on platforms such as X, as to why accounts with such huge followings can make such obviously poor decisions that can cause harm, distress and offence to so many. Something that has also been seen with Sky Sports introduction of ‘Sky Sports Halo’ on TikTok, an attempt by the major media organisation at creating a female-focused sports account, which has done much more harm than good.

Incidents such as these will only keep questions being answered, as the wider matter of clickbait in media becomes more and more of an issue throughout the entirety of the digital world

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist

Oliver Seymour

Freelance Content Writer

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