Alfie Barker

blueser

This character has been sacked by Hitchin Town for sending a tweet mocking Bournemouth's Harry Arter over the death of his baby daughter.

http://www.thecomet.net/news/hitchin_town_fc_terminate_registration_of_player_on_loan_at_codicote_fc_who_mocked_afc_bournemouth_star_harry_arter_over_stillborn_daughter_following_arsenal_draw_1_4836775

Unbelievable. I truly hope he upsets the wrong person sometime in the future, and gets what's coming to him. Pure scum.

nullzero

Woof woof.

DrumSteve

What an absolute wankstain of the highest order.

nullzero

Nicely plucked eyebrows though in fairness. Chris Eagles would be proud of those bad boys.

Arghus

I don't know - what about compassion for the truly dense? People wishing injury on the idiot are being as grown up as he is.

His comments strike me as something only a moronically stupid person who had no idea what they were on about and how hurtful they could be would say; I feel a bit sorry for someone that thick to be honest. I'd rather someone took him aside and tried their best to explain human decency to him, rather than doing the done thing of just washing their hands of him completely

artanevilla

Some of the historical comments about him on twitter are from 13/14 year old girls asking him to leave them alone.

Corholio

Arghus wrote: »

I don't know - what about compassion for the truly desne?

His comments strike me as something only a moronically stupid person who had no idea what they were on about and how hurtful they could be would say; I feel a bit sorry for someone that thick to be honest. I'd rather someone took him aside and tried their best to explain human decency to him, rather than doing the done thing of just washing their hands of him completely

Or a guy who just hasn't grasped the nature of social media, thinking no ones going to care what a non league footballer says and can get away with it. Old enough to know better, and by better I mean a scrap of decency.

Tom Mann Centuria

Arghus wrote: »

I don't know - what about compassion for the truly dense? People wishing injury on the idiot are being as grown up as he is.

His comments strike me as something only a moronically stupid person who had no idea what they were on about and how hurtful they could be would say; I feel a bit sorry for someone that thick to be honest. I'd rather someone took him aside and tried their best to explain human decency to him, rather than doing the done thing of just washing their hands of him completely

He's definitely a moron, think he may be unpleasant enough to be one to wash your hands of though.

brevity

What part of him thought that it was a good idea to post that on Twitter?

Stuff like that really boggles the mind.

Arghus

Now watch as the media whips itself up into a frenzy endlessly printing the insults - which 99% of people would never have come across if it wasn't for the controversy - and feeding off the clicks, all the while tut, tutting at such hurtful words.

blueser

Corholio wrote: »

Or a guy who just hasn't grasped the nature of social media, thinking no ones going to care what a non league footballer says and can get away with it. Old enough to know better, and by better I mean a scrap of decency.

Correct. He's 19 years old (not 9), old enough to know the difference between right and wrong.

Jayop

artanevilla wrote: »

Some of the historical comments about him on twitter are from 13/14 year old girls asking him to leave them alone.

Really?? Ugh what a character.

TheDoc

Are disgraceful,disgusting comments from random football people going to be a headline all the time or something?

Have a look at basically any replies to a footballer of note or club on Twitter to see the epidemic of stupidity and horrible cretins that infest football in England.

United made an official tweet about one of our fans who passed away at the West Ham game, and I didn't even need to click to read replies to no doubt see Liverpool fans making ****e about Munich and then responses about Hillsborough.

It's the downside of our advancements in technology, and Steve Jobs has a lot to answer for. Historically you just never heard from morons or absolute spackers, and now they have a platform to voice their absolute dribble and nonsense.

Arghus

blueser wrote: »

Correct. He's 19 years old (not 9), old enough to know the difference between right and wrong.

I find it hard to get too worked up in this instance - it's some stupid, hurtful remarks tweeted by some obscure nineteen year old idiot, that have been blown out of all proportion because of the controversy. Are you really offended by this? Will you lose sleep over it? Isn't it easier to just say, that guys an idiot, and shake your head and be thankful most people in the world don't think that way.

Jayop

TheDoc wrote: »

Are disgraceful,disgusting comments from random football people going to be a headline all the time or something?

Have a look at basically any replies to a footballer of note or club on Twitter to see the epidemic of stupidity and horrible cretins that infest football in England.

United made an official tweet about one of our fans who passed away at the West Ham game, and I didn't even need to click to read replies to no doubt see Liverpool fans making ****e about Munich and then responses about Hillsborough.

It's the downside of our advancements in technology, and Steve Jobs has a lot to answer for. Historically you just never heard from morons or absolute spackers, and now they have a platform to voice their absolute dribble and nonsense.

Was watching that Blacks Vs Whites documentary and they reckon racism in football had improved so much in England and was set back years by twitter.

DrumSteve

TheDoc wrote: »

Are disgraceful,disgusting comments from random football people going to be a headline all the time or something?

Have a look at basically any replies to a footballer of note or club on Twitter to see the epidemic of stupidity and horrible cretins that infest football in England.

United made an official tweet about one of our fans who passed away at the West Ham game, and I didn't even need to click to read replies to no doubt see Liverpool fans making ****e about Munich and then responses about Hillsborough.

It's the downside of our advancements in technology, and Steve Jobs has a lot to answer for. Historically you just never heard from morons or absolute spackers, and now they have a platform to voice their absolute dribble and nonsense.

Just clicked on there to take a look; literally the first thing I seen was a response from a untied fan mentioning Hillsborough. Couldn't see the original tweet it was responding to, mind.

Some droolers on there.

TheDoc

Jayop wrote: »

Was watching that Blacks Vs Whites documentary and they reckon racism in football had improved so much in England and was set back years by twitter.

Of course, and that is just true for general society. Absolute morons you might here once in a blue moon spout ****e in the pub who you just told to shut the **** up, have an infinite platform now to share their drivel, and worse still can quickly find like minded people who share and perpetuate those beliefs or opinions.

GLaDOS

Twitter is a cesspool

Jayop

DrumSteve wrote: »

Just clicked on there to take a look; literally the first thing I seen was a response from a untied fan mentioning Hillsborough. Couldn't see the original tweet it was responding to, mind.

Some droolers on there.

In fairness, the first few tweets seem to be in response to something said about Hillsborough, I can't see the original tweet. I scrolled down a fair bit after that and it's almost all perfectly respectful with several Pool fans posting things like RIP #YNWA. There are quite a large number of bellwhiffs but the majority are sound imo.

DeanAustin

Disgusting comments. Social media/the internet really turns some people into complete f**king idiots.

tinpib

Ya, I wouldn't agree with all this talk of him being 'evil', he just seems to be a complete moron. 19 years old, insensitive and thick as sh!te.

Corholio

It seems this guy may have a form of autism so that may be something to consider.

NIMAN

Thats the thing with the internet now, there are literally thousands of people out there just dying for something that will offend them.

Only Harry Arter and his wife (plus maybe faimily) should find offence here, no-one else. The rest of us should just think "Jez what an arse", but far too many people want to get offended themselves.

Stories like this will be the stable diet of websites for the future, as every little thing is reported as news.

Jayop

NIMAN wrote: »

Thats the thing with the internet now, there are literally thousands of people out there just dying for something that will offend them.

Only Harry Arter and his wife (plus maybe faimily) should find offence here, no-one else. The rest of us should just think "Jez what an arse", but far too many people want to get offended themselves.

Stories like this will be the stable diet of websites for the future, as every little thing is reported as news.

I don't think anyone is saying they're offended personally here. In fact I think you're quite wrong about that.

CSF

tinpib wrote: »

Ya, I wouldn't agree with all this talk of him being 'evil', he just seems to be a complete moron. 19 years old, insensitive and thick as sh!te.

The comments are particularly nasty. With the 2nd one he's clearly put a bit of thought into coming up with something he found witty to unleash onto the Twitter world.

I can't see any reason to have sympathy for him or to be spared punishment. If I lost a child and some horrible individual sent me tweets abusing me over it, I'd want for that person to not get away with it. I think Harry Arter is entitled to the same, like us all, even without having to ask for it.

Those people who have a 'just ignore them/block them' attitude to this kind of stuff are IMO facilitating what makes some corners of the Internet a very dark and murky place.

CSF

Jayop wrote: »

NIMAN wrote: »

Thats the thing with the internet now, there are literally thousands of people out there just dying for something that will offend them.

Only Harry Arter and his wife (plus maybe faimily) should find offence here, no-one else. The rest of us should just think "Jez what an arse", but far too many people want to get offended themselves.

Stories like this will be the stable diet of websites for the future, as every little thing is reported as news.

I don't think anyone is saying they're offended personally here. In fact I think you're quite wrong about that.

Yeah, that's complete nonsense. Nobody is personally offended but that doesn't mean people are void of empathy either.

gimmick

We all know a guy who wants to get viral with nasty irreverence on social media (or maybe I need new friends). The guy is usually an absolute tool but not an evil tool. This is what poor Alfie was after. A hilarious viral hit.

It's the level of stupidity thinking something like that is funny is the worst thing really. And I have no doubt he got a few likes before the whole thing really took off.

For his own sake he will want to hide the face he is do fond of for quite some time.

CSF

gimmick wrote: »

We all know a guy who wants to get viral with nasty irreverence on social media (or maybe I need new friends). The guy is usually an absolute tool but not an evil tool. This is what poor Alfie was after. A hilarious viral hit.

It's the level of stupidity thinking something like that is funny is the worst thing really. And I have no doubt he got a few likes before the whole thing really took off.

For his own sake he will want to hide the face he is do fond of for quite some time.

Genuinely not sure we do all know those people. I know people who act the d*ck on the internet, like you get idiots who'll make a sh*t yourself joke at every tweet Lineker ever makes and every Piers Morgan tweet is going to get a more deserved phone hacking remark.

But stuff like dead babies, racist, homophobic hate tweets. There's no dumbing that down or making it somewhat ok. There's no getting around that, the people who do that kind of thing actually aren't nice people, even if they might seem a bit more harmless down the pub.

Jayop

I still don't get the Linekar joke. Never looked into what the background is.

eagle eye

The fact there is a thread about this dimwit on boards.ie means he is probably getting what he wants which is massive attention. I think he should be just ignored which is probably what was happening to him before this.

Players should simply be told to stay off social media. Maybe for sharing holiday snaps with the cousins or harmless stuff, but should be a standard clause in contracts that all public comment that is football related must be routed through the clubs press officer. If a club trusts that a player has the ability to cope with it without launching into craic or bants that most normal people would find disgusting, then they may give him more latitude. But the general rule should be no access.

blueser

Arghus wrote: »

I find it hard to get too worked up in this instance - it's some stupid, hurtful remarks tweeted by some obscure nineteen year old idiot, that have been blown out of all proportion because of the controversy. Are you really offended by this? Will you lose sleep over it? Isn't it easier to just say, that guys an idiot, and shake your head and be thankful most people in the world don't think that way.

You're perfectly entitled to your opinion.

TheDoc

TheDoc wrote: »

Are disgraceful,disgusting comments from random football people going to be a headline all the time or something?

Have a look at basically any replies to a footballer of note or club on Twitter to see the epidemic of stupidity and horrible cretins that infest football in England.

United made an official tweet about one of our fans who passed away at the West Ham game, and I didn't even need to click to read replies to no doubt see Liverpool fans making ****e about Munich and then responses about Hillsborough.

It's the downside of our advancements in technology, and Steve Jobs has a lot to answer for. Historically you just never heard from morons or absolute spackers, and now they have a platform to voice their absolute dribble and nonsense.

Ah now we cant hang this one on Steve Jobs.

Firstly, the internet preceded Jobs/Apple, Secondly Jobs/Apple didnt come up the concept of Social media (granted apple made devices that made the process more instantaneous). Im not sure when Apple came up with the iphone their first thought was, 'Now the worlds scum can taunt each other back and forth'. :rolleyes:

gimmick

CSF wrote: »

Genuinely not sure we do all know those people. I know people who act the d*ck on the internet, like you get idiots who'll make a sh*t yourself joke at every tweet Lineker ever makes and every Piers Morgan tweet is going to get a more deserved phone hacking remark.

But stuff like dead babies, racist, homophobic hate tweets. There's no dumbing that down or making it somewhat ok. There's no getting around that, the people who do that kind of thing actually aren't nice people, even if they might seem a bit more harmless down the pub.

Don't get me wrong, he is a complete moron obviously. And the object of the tweet is miles out of bounds. But he did it thinking he was funny and didn't expect such a reaction.

kfallon

You should have to pass an online IQ test to be allowed post on Social Media.

As I said before, Twitter - giving a voice to idiots everywhere. :rolleyes:

Also, anyone who wears their socks playing football like he does in the picture is an instant bellend!

alchemist33

People calling him stupid and a moron are going easy on him. Anyone with an IQ over 60 knows taking the piss out of someone for losing a child is a nasty thing to do, and I really doubt his IQ is that low. He knew exactly what he was doing; he just underestimated the response. He exposed himself as someone with no empathy or concern for others, as good as a piece of scum.

CSF

gimmick wrote: »

CSF wrote: »

Genuinely not sure we do all know those people. I know people who act the d*ck on the internet, like you get idiots who'll make a sh*t yourself joke at every tweet Lineker ever makes and every Piers Morgan tweet is going to get a more deserved phone hacking remark.

But stuff like dead babies, racist, homophobic hate tweets. There's no dumbing that down or making it somewhat ok. There's no getting around that, the people who do that kind of thing actually aren't nice people, even if they might seem a bit more harmless down the pub.

Don't get me wrong, he is a complete moron obviously. And the object of the tweet is miles out of bounds. But he did it thinking he was funny and didn't expect such a reaction.

Very specific kind of funny though. The thing that he finds funny is that he is saying something horrible and very hurtful to someone on the Internet. I don't think there is a way of dumbing in it down. Being an idiot and being a nasty person aren't mutually exclusive. We'll all know some really stupid people with a heart of gold, and some naturally intelligent people who love being cruel to others.

It's entirely possible that these tweets are something that Harry Arter would never have even seen but it's immaterial.

Bridge93

eagle eye wrote: »

The fact there is a thread about this dimwit on boards.ie means he is probably getting what he wants which is massive attention. I think he should be just ignored which is probably what was happening to him before this.

I'm positive the results of those tweets is not what he wants. Attention yes. Massive public outrage and being sacked absolutely not

JaMarcusHustle

I'll be honest, I've read far worse comments on twitter than his. Is the only reason this is making news is because he's a footballer too?

Zaph

JaMarcusHustle wrote: »

I'll be honest, I've read far worse comments on twitter than his. Is the only reason this is making news is because he's a footballer too?

The reason it's making news is because for some moronic reason he thought that it would be hilarious to make "jokes" about the stillborn baby of a public figure, albeit a relatively minor one. It's the target of his tweets that resulted in this ending up in the news. If the same tweets were aimed at an ordinary Joe Bloggs only his handful of followers would see it, whereas Harry Arter has 21,000 followers which means the story spread much quicker.

Some local newspaper who gave him a shout

I'm not defending what he said at all, but it seems that he was previously diagnosed with some mental health issues including mild autism. That's not a "well sure that makes it fine" fact, just maybe one to consider other than "This young lad is an evil little prick and that's all there is to it."

Some local newspaper who gave him a shout wrote:

"However, the Comet tracked down the youngster – who has lived with ADHD and a mild form of autism since being diagnosed at Pinehill Hospital in Hitchin five years ago and is on medication called Concerta XL to combat the symptoms."

Full 'apology interview' if anyone wants to read it here

Whatever about the rest of us, I hope that Harry Arter and his family aren't too upset by this Twitter bullshít, especially Mrs. Arter after all she would have come through previously. Let's face it, it is Twitter bullshít. Despite posting with his real name, there's no way this guy would have said those words in the real world to Harry Arter, or possibly to anyone. Much like a lot of the toilet-filler which clogs up Twitter and goes someway to outweighing its positives.

Ideally, the Arters shouldn't have a clue who this Alfie Barker is, but now that it's happened maybe this incident could be the "Hey...this kid could do with a bit more discipline, observation and guidance" event that might save more harm down the road to himself and/or others.

Agent Coulson

Alfie Barker given seven-month ban for Harry Arter tweets

Ex-Hitchin Town player Alfie Barker has been suspended from all football activity until 1 August by the FA as a result of tweets he sent to Bournemouth's Harry Arter about the death of his baby daughter.

During Bournemouth and Arsenal's 3-3 draw, Barker posted: "Big hype just for a disappointment like the nine months leading up to your child's birth."

Barker admitted a Football Association charge at a hearing on Tuesday.

The 18-year-old was also fined £250.

Arter, whose side were 3-0 up against the Gunners, and partner Rachel's baby daughter Renee was stillborn in December 2015.

Barker, who was sacked by Hitchin and Codicote FC, where he had been on loan, after sending the tweet, has also been warned as to his future conduct.

He was charged with allegedly posting comments which were abusive and/or insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute.

Barker later apologised for his "disgraceful comments" and said that he would accept any punishment given to him.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38827978?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_match_of_the_day&ns_source=facebook&ns_linkname=sport

RobertKK

Some people have no sense and/or compassion.

greendom

RobertKK wrote: »

Some people have no sense and/or compassion.

A stupid 18 year old. We've all done and said things we regret. I was a stupid 18 year old once, fortunately social media didn't exist then.

Mars Bar

greendom wrote: »

A stupid 18 year old. We've all done and said things we regret. I was a stupid 18 year old once, fortunately social media didn't exist then.

Even at 18 you understand death and the pain it can cause. There just is no excuse for that kind of comment.

artanevilla

He's an adult and he make a decision and now he has to live with the consequences.

Doesn't matter if you're a stupid 18 year old or a stupid 40 year old.

greendom

artanevilla wrote: »

He's an adult and he make a decision and now he has to live with the consequences.

Doesn't matter if you're a stupid 18 year old or a stupid 40 year old.

A 40 year old posting something like that would deserve a much greater punishment imo

bucketybuck

greendom wrote: »

A stupid 18 year old. We've all done and said things we regret. I was a stupid 18 year old once, fortunately social media didn't exist then.

How insulting that is to the millions of 18 year olds who would never even think thoughts like that never mind actually say them. I was a stupid kid once as well, but I still knew right from wrong.

PhlegmyMoses

I'm normally in the teenagers can be utter morons at times and should be held accountable but given some leeway we wouldn't normally give a proper grown up.

But every time I read that comment I find it genuinely shocking. Incredibly harsh, mean and tasteless.

RobertKK

I suspect most of us had parents that brought us up to be considerate of others, being told don't say that as it will cause trouble and people will be upset, and to think before you speak.
It is not hard to avoid situations like this, as most people know it is wrong and they know well before they are 18.

greendom

RobertKK wrote: »

I suspect most of us had parents that brought us up to be considerate of others, being told don't say that as it will cause trouble and people will be upset, and to think before you speak.
It is not hard to avoid situations like this, as most people know it is wrong and they know well before they are 18.

We know nothing of this lads upbringing or what his parents were like.

It was a moment of immense stupidity which has been magnified hugely through the prism of social media