Cork hurling manager John Meyler has spoken about how he deals with criticism from supporters following revelations from the likes of Eamonn Fitzmaurice and Anthony Daly, describing it as something he simply has to accept.
Fitzmaurice, in the aftermath of Kerry’s exit from the Super 8s, revealed he had become "a lightning rod for criticism" and suggested he'd received hate mail, and several other manager have since told similar stories.
Speaking on Today with Miriam O’Callaghan, Meyler said he does not engage at all when it comes to his door.
The Cork boss said: "I don't suffer from that abuse because when you take the position of inter-county manager, whether it's Dublin, Kerry football or Cork hurling, whatever job you take on you are going to get abuse. It is par for the course and everybody gets that. I have a hard back.
"I'm well used to criticism and it doesn't really affect me. It's how you let it affect you. I don't let it affect me. I just get on with my job. I have my job and I will do it whatever way I see possible to do it. If you have a strong personality you ignore it and you just get on with it.
"This is society today. Everybody has a right to free speech and their opinion. They will talk on social media, but I'm not on Twitter, Facebook and I don't listen to the radio most of the time and I don't read newspapers.
"I don't hear it. You don't need it. When the letters come into the postbox, if you see it scribbled out 'John Meyler - Cork hurling manager', well you know what is coming!
"You read the first line and then say it is for the bin. Gone. Good luck. Bye.
"There are communication issues. I have always with the Cork team, like this year, come out and spoken honestly, about why we failed or why we had success. That is being honest and if you are being honest people will leave you alone I think."
Meyler’s son David plays for Reading in the Championship in soccer – and recalls one particular day while he watched him in action for previous club Hull in the Premier League.
Again, it wasn’t something he felt he could involved himself in.
"I sat at a fixture Liverpool v Hull where I was in the away end a few years ago. A guy in front of me abused David for the best part of 90 minutes. You have to sit there and take it.
"That is society and what happens. These guys get their day out and their kicks. I don't engage people like that and you can't engage people because I believe abuse is like a game of tennis.
"If you bat back, you end up in an argument. Don't bat, fight, listen or engage."
