Negative sentiments towards the Australian National Rugby League during the COVID-۱۹ crisis

In the first half of ۲۰۲۰, nearly all sports leagues and events around the world were cancelled or postponed in response to the COVID-۱۹ crisis. Sport decision-makers sought to balance the financial costs of the COVID-۱۹ pandemic without compromising public health. Many organizations (e.g., Australian Formula ۱ Grand Prix, EURO ۲۰۲۰, International Olympic Committee, Tour de France), delayed cancellation or postponement until the last possible moment. Other sport events/leagues that stopped (e.g., the National Rugby League (NRL) in Australia) sought to re-start at the earliest opportunity. A variety of negative sentiments were evident in the print media in response to both the slow cancellations/postponements and restart efforts.Scholars and practitioners are drawn to the positive dimensions of consumption (Dalli, Romani, & Gistri, ۲۰۰۶). However, there is a concern that "extant research tends to neglect brands that, although well known, are not enjoyed, admired, cherished, honored, or considered agreeable with consumers" (Veloutsou, Chatzipanagiotou, & Christodoulides, ۲۰۲۰, p. ۴۱). Managing negative sentiments may be more important than refining positive ones (Rodrigues & Pinto Borges, ۲۰۲۰). Even strong brands should rightfully fear the development of strong negative consumer sentiments and actions at individual and collective levels (Veloutsou et al., ۲۰۲۰).This research pursued evidence of negative sentiments directed towards the NRL. In this exploratory phase of the research, data were collected from online reader comments from the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH). Articles were retrieved using the newspapers’ archive category of “NRL ۲۰۲۰”. Within this category, there were ۱۸۲ articles tagged with the “Coronavirus Pandemic”. Online comments were provided in response to ۶۵ of those articles. Quotes were coded deductively for relevance to five concepts drawn from the negative consumer sentiment literature. ۱) Brand hate is a strong negative passion a consumer has toward a brand that is accompanied by a group of anger-, sadness- and fear-related emotions (Zhang & Laroche, ۲۰۲۰). ۲) Negative word-of-mouth is negatively valenced, informal communication between private parties about goods and services and the evaluation thereof (Wetzer et al., ۲۰۰۷). ۳) Gloating refers to malicious negative communications (Hornik et al., ۲۰۱۹). ۴) Trash talking relates to the action of offending rival brands verbally (Japutra et al., ۲۰۱۸). ۵) Consumer skepticism encompasses the distrust that people sometimes have in persuasion agents and the disbelief they sometimes have about marketing claims (Isaac & Grayson, ۲۰۲۰).The analysis revealed evidence of all five negative sentiments. These sentiments expressed in the midst of a crisis are a sage reminder that sport organizations/brands are not universally liked. Our understanding of negative sentiment in sport, and the circumstances under which it can be exacerbated, is worthy of future research.