Mistake of fact - the court will inquire into the reasonableness of the belief. If Puncheon was wrong but the court determines that a reasonable person in his situation would have believed the same, there is no defamation. Fair comment on a matter of public interest - comments made about things which would be in the public interest, such as official acts, are defensible if untrue, as long as it's held that a reasonable person could entertain such an opinion. So it can be untrue and still not be defamatory. There is also no burden of proof or anything like that involved. If a reasonable person could have believed it in Puncheon's circumstances, he's fine. He would basically need to have entirely fabricated it out of thin air to be liable.
Well "prove" is perhaps the wrong word because it's not really possible to prove that. It's up to the court to determine whether a "reasonable person" could have believed it, and they tend to be quite loose with the definition of "reasonable". In fact if I'm not mistaken the statute that provides the "fair comment on a matter of public interest" defense actually includes the words "even if illogical", or something to that effect.
I mean he would have to give his reasons for believing it. Whether they would be deemed reasonable grounds or not is for the judge to decide I suppose.
Unless he's completely plucked these beliefs out of thin air I struggle to imagine him failing the reasonable man test. He'd have to be quite the idiot.
We've had problems with players on social networks. Imo no matter how valid a point it's extremely unprofessional. I think it's about time that the use of these sites were tied into the clubs media agreements, and legal conditions put in place. It makes Southampton and Palace look very bad as an outsider looking in, just like Phil Bardsley and James McLean made my club look bad when they were at it. You're footballers not politicians. Wind your neck in init.
Not sure that it makes Southampton look bad. Yes, we hold his registry, but nobody considers him a Southampton player in reality.
Bit of a nitpick admittedly, but we don't actually. On loan players are registered to the clubs they're on loan with.
I was using it as an example to a more general problem, with it being on your board and him still being technically your player it made sense to use both Southampton and my own club as examples, I tend comment on the bigger picture. It's all very embarrassing for the sport. It needs to be nipped in bud doesn't it?
Pretty ridiculous comment. If what Puncheon says is true then the whole football community should thank him for it. It doesn't matter if he says it on a social network or elsewhere; blowing the whistle on those sorts of goings-on would be highly laudable.
I also, like Joe, disagree with this. Why is it unprofessional - what does that mean? It is the same at work, people say oh you cannot do that it is unprofessional. It is something that has crept into society that if you say something against the norm you must be castigated for doing so and apologise. I would much rather people think and have an opinion instead of just drifting along spouting the banal mainstream rhetoric - otherwise everyone will end up like the England cricket team !
Not working at the moment but at my last job, if I went on twitter and publicly brought up situations that happened within my company I'd be hauled into the office and disciplined. That's a fact that I would have had to except it if i'd crossed the line. Just opinions init.
