THOUGH JACOB STOCKDALE has been off social media for several years now, the recent birth of his second daughter prompted a notable return to Instagram in the aftermath of last month’s home win over Benetton.
He was pictured with newborn Bonnie and wife Hannah after the final whistle at the Kingspan but as the 28-year-old winger explained this was not his doing.
“I’m not on Instagram anymore, I still have the account, but my wife tends to manage it more often than I do,” he said.
Advertisement
“It was brilliant,” he added of holding his new daughter on that evening at the Kingspan, “those moments are really, really special.
“Hannah brought Phoebe, our first, along when it was my first game back after my ankle injury (in 2022), so we decided, ‘you know what, we’ll do the same for number two.’
Stockdale with his daughter Phoebe in 2023. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
“Carrying Bonnie around on the pitch for a wee while afterwards, and after I had carried (first daughter) Phoebe out onto the pitch, those are the moments, those wee moments, those wee memories will stay with you for life,” said Stockdale who starts in Saturday’s must-win URC clash at the Scarlets.
But his new daughter will not prompt any return to his previous online presence and involvement as Stockdale reiterates how becoming embroiled with online traffic forced him to quit regular engagement with the platforms some years ago.
“The manner in which I started my career meant I was always probably going to be scrutinised a bit more and at the start I struggled with that.
“I really cared what people thought about me and read everything that was written about me, read all the tweets everything, and then got to the point where I realised it was impacting me negatively.
“When I was really young, I actually remember saying to Rory Best that I was reading all this stuff and he was like ‘you need to stop that’ and at that point everything was really nice and everybody was complimentary, so I was like ‘alright, old man, get lost’ to a certain degree.
“I remember that was ringing in my ears a wee bit and it was just a decision I made myself a few years back when I started to realise that it wasn’t a healthy thing to be doing and just to nip it in the bud,” added the player who scored his eighth try this season last time out against Benetton.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
12 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
'I really cared what people thought about me and read everything that was written'
THOUGH JACOB STOCKDALE has been off social media for several years now, the recent birth of his second daughter prompted a notable return to Instagram in the aftermath of last month’s home win over Benetton.
He was pictured with newborn Bonnie and wife Hannah after the final whistle at the Kingspan but as the 28-year-old winger explained this was not his doing.
“I’m not on Instagram anymore, I still have the account, but my wife tends to manage it more often than I do,” he said.
“It was brilliant,” he added of holding his new daughter on that evening at the Kingspan, “those moments are really, really special.
“Hannah brought Phoebe, our first, along when it was my first game back after my ankle injury (in 2022), so we decided, ‘you know what, we’ll do the same for number two.’
“Carrying Bonnie around on the pitch for a wee while afterwards, and after I had carried (first daughter) Phoebe out onto the pitch, those are the moments, those wee moments, those wee memories will stay with you for life,” said Stockdale who starts in Saturday’s must-win URC clash at the Scarlets.
But his new daughter will not prompt any return to his previous online presence and involvement as Stockdale reiterates how becoming embroiled with online traffic forced him to quit regular engagement with the platforms some years ago.
“The manner in which I started my career meant I was always probably going to be scrutinised a bit more and at the start I struggled with that.
“I really cared what people thought about me and read everything that was written about me, read all the tweets everything, and then got to the point where I realised it was impacting me negatively.
“When I was really young, I actually remember saying to Rory Best that I was reading all this stuff and he was like ‘you need to stop that’ and at that point everything was really nice and everybody was complimentary, so I was like ‘alright, old man, get lost’ to a certain degree.
“I remember that was ringing in my ears a wee bit and it was just a decision I made myself a few years back when I started to realise that it wasn’t a healthy thing to be doing and just to nip it in the bud,” added the player who scored his eighth try this season last time out against Benetton.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Jacob Stockdale taking it offline Ulster