Warrington star Josh Charnley reveals meeting fan who sent him death threat

Warrington winger Josh Charnley received death threats from one of his own supporters and, notably, the two then met in person to discuss the online abuse

Warrington Wolves winger Josh Charnley has met with a fan who had sent him death threats via social media. Charnley received the online abuse following Warrington’s 34-18 loss to Hull KR last month.

The messages were quickly relayed to the club and the fan was handed a lengthy ban, while an unnamed supporter was also given a ban. Despite the abuse, Charnley and his club offered the suspended man the chance to meet the winger to discuss the matter.

After the offer, the Wire supporter accepted and the couple met face to face as part of the Rugby Football League’s ‘Tackle It’ initiative.

Charnley spoke about the meeting at BBC Breakfast, revealing the perpetrator was “trembling” and “felt embarrassed”. He said: “You could see he was shaking, he was embarrassed.

“He wouldn’t have told me that in this room, no chance. If you can meet them, you can get your point across and hopefully they’ll get the point across.

“I don’t know why I was targeted. It wasn’t nice to see and I don’t want to get comments like this and my family thinks I’m in danger. It shocked me at first. We don’t go out every week to have you hit.”

Charnley’s wife Zoe also addressed the abuse and believes fans sometimes forget that players are “people” after revealing their concerns about the news. She commented, “Sometimes I think fans forget that they are human and have lives too. You don’t see what we see at home.

“I feel like it’s always been there, but it’s a lot easier for people to post because of social media. It makes you worried because you don’t know these people, we have never met this person, we don’t know if he will do anything about these threats. It’s not nice for Josh’s parents.”