Hey Everyone! I was the individual defending the club in the twitter thread. Here's some background on the whole scenario (something that a simple tweet does not provide):
Over the years, Stafford Woods has had numerous problems with people altering the course (breaking branches, sawing down trees, etc). This is especially detrimental when many of the trees being damaged and removed are laurels, a type of tree which the local township provided explicit directions to protect. Unfortunately, these type of activities have increased with the growth of the sport, with individuals treating the area as if it was their own backyard. Various attempts were made to attract the attention of players who were not respectful of course rules, but these attempts usually ended with signage removed or destroyed.
A select few thought it might be a good idea to come up with the sign posted on the twitter photo — which I believe was originally intended to be "Brodie's Rules" (hence the apostrophe). I don't know if there was a miscommunication or if people genuinely dislike Brodie, but the sign posted is what we ended up with. The idea was that using the image of a popular/familiar would attract attention to important course rules that were being ignored. Clearly, we now realize that this was an extremely poorly executed idea, although I can assure that their was no genuine malice intended with the sign.
Yes, the issue was previously discussed, but for those that read the thread, many people though the sign was successful in deterring unwanted behavior. Brodie was clearly offended by the sign, and the entire message board was removed at a moments notice — as it would have been as soon as we understood that it was genuinely offensive to Brodie.
Unfortunately, Brodie's twitter rant left a lot of our core volunteer group emotionally exhausted after receiving numerous private messages. A phone number for our lead volunteer (who had absolutely nothing to do with the sign) was posted online, and he received an absolutely absurd amount of private messages and calls over an issue he had no part in. Personally, I feel as though this could have been handled in a far more mature manner — if we want to be seen as a professional sport, berating the very people that bust their asses to make disc golf a wonderful sport is not the answer. A simple pm to the TD or course designer would have solved the issue immediately. This would have prevented the social media ****storm that ensued, which resulted in numerous individuals who devote their lives to bettering the sport for all of us to enjoy (and giving people like Brodie a place and platform to compete) being emotionally exhausted and burnt out over countless unsolicited hate messages/comments.
Anyways, I hope this provides a little more clarity. I don't mean to defend the actions of anyone, just providing some context for those that wish to read. South Jersey Disc Golf is a club full of great people who volunteer their tails off to maintain one of the best courses in the region, and I hope that those that have visited Stafford Woods and met our volunteer crew would attest to that. If you haven't visited, we hope to see you soon!
Until then, Happy Discin!
