Tasmania JackJumpers coach blasts NBL as players targeted by sick online trolls

Tasmania JackJumpers players and their families have been brutally attacked online amid the club’s misfiring NBL season, says coach Scott Roth, who wants the league to take more action.

The reigning champions got off the bottom of the table with an upset 83-64 victory over the ladder-leading New Zealand Breakers on Saturday night in Hobart.

In an emotional post-game press conference, Roth revealed weeks-long social media trolling of players and their loved ones had reached an ugly head in the 24 hours before the game.

‘We have a lot of distraught players and family members, wives and spouses and children,’ he said.

‘We have been attacked brutally through social media to the point where it is ugly.

‘We have a player whose wife is pregnant and they (people online) wished for a miscarriage.’

JackJumpers CEO Christine Finnegan said players had informed Basketball Australia’s integrity unit about the harassment.

‘(The unit has) advised that they were giving this their highest priority to look into this matter,’ she said in a statement.

The Tasmania NBL club says players and their families have been the subject of shocking online abuse in recent days

‘The club has offered its unconditional support to all members of our club who feel violated by this behaviour.’

Roth said he was content to cop criticism about his coaching, the team’s playing style or roster decisions, but personal attacks crossed the line.

‘It is coming from gamblers and people around the world and from general fans that feel they can spew whatever they want out of their mouths,’ he said.

‘When you start using vulgarity and you start attacking family members and kids and photos on Facebook … it’s too much.

‘It’s just a basketball game. It’s just entertainment. Who cares at the end of the day?

‘We’re just here to entertain, play as hard as we can. This is not life or death. It’s disgusting.’

Tasmania claimed the championship last season in just their third year in the competition, but have won only four of 12 matches so far in 2024/25.

Roth called on the league to ‘do more’ about social media trolling and take a more proactive approach.

Scott Roth says players and their families are distraught from the abuse

‘I get it, you report it, and then they try to figure it out,’ he said.

‘But why would they not be … looking at what is going on and touching base with teams? It’s not just us.

‘I have family members (of players) saying ‘I’m scared to go out because I’ve been threatened’.

‘The league needs to protect us. We’ve had three remarkable years and I’m not going to let the place get burnt down by people attacking us in that fashion.’

Roth said he told his players to ‘play for their families’ before the victory, which snapped a three-game losing streak and was spearheaded by 19 points from Jordon Crawford.

The Breakers, first on the table before the clash, were ahead 27-20 at the end of the first quarter but fell away badly and scored just three points in a horror third quarter.

They lost Jonah Bolden early in the contest when the 28-year-old power forward limped off with a left calf problem.

Import Craig Sword had his best game of the season for Tasmania with 18 points, while fellow bench player Majok Deng also picked up 18 as well as six rebounds.