A man has been prosecuted in Australia for abusing a match official on social media during the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Aaron Isaia abused Television Match Official (TMO) Brian MacNeice and his family during England’s win over Samoa.
Isaia, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of using an online communication platform to menace or harass at a magistrates’ court near Brisbane.
He avoided prison but was handed a 12-month good behaviour bond of 1,000 Australian dollars (£522).
Governing body World Rugby welcomed the “landmark outcome” and said it was taking steps to ban Isaia from buying tickets for its future events.
“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,” said World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin.
World Rugby added that there were further similar ongoing cases in five other jurisdictions thanks to a monitoring service that tracked social media abuse of officials and players during the tournament.
