There's a rather sexist stereotype of "the sewing circle". The idea, which was seemingly generated in early 20th century America, is that a gang of women working together, sewing, would spend their entire day gossiping away, talking about every Tom, Dick and Harry in the town and sharing their business with all and sundry.
In Ireland in the 21st Century, this sewing circle has updated itself and morphed into the WhatsApp group of a group of lads.
They are the worst in the world. Hear something vaguely interesting? It's straight into the group - usually with an astonishing amount of detail for someone who's heard a story third or fourth hand.
You can't hold your juicy bit of gossip to yourself for long. You just have to tell everyone you know. And if you add a few facts off the top of your head to go along with, what harm? Sure it probably happened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMF3zcQw27g
The Whatsapp rumours about the Tipperary hurling panel this week is a high profile example of something that happens every day.
Michael Duignan brilliantly took down this behaviour on RTE Radio this morning, but it's part of a problem that exists all over the country both inside and outside of the GAA.
This week, I heard the Tipperary rumours from four people within 24 hours. Three times it came through Whatsapp. None of the stories were the same. Added to that, a Balls.ie source close to one of the characters involved has dismissed it as completely untrue.
But rumours take on a life of their own, and this continues to get shared on Whatsapp groups everywhere, and even shared by GAA "fan" Facebook pages for whom good taste and the country's defamation laws seemingly don't apply.
This may be a more high profile case than usual, but it's far from rare. There isn't a summer that goes by that I won't hear a remarkably similar story to this from different characters in different club or county teams. Usually, they've just lost a big match. Something has to explain it.
The gossips don't just stop at players' personal lives either. It's incredible the amount of inter-county stars I've heard whose career was supposedly secretly over with injury only for them to be back on the pitch two weeks later. Miracle cures aplenty in the GAA.
PED use, affairs, sexuality, injuries, drinking - all topics for the group, and based on what? Very little... often nothing at all.
There's no way this kind of stuff doesn't reach the people involved. It's messing with people's relationships and lives and it's being spread by people who honestly have no idea if what they are saying is true.
Since last November, the "war on truth" is something we rally against daily. But #FakeNews isn't just something that can be hurled at journalists. Every person in Ireland has a right to their good name - their reputation.
Journalists are not the only ones bound by defamation laws, every citizen is. Maybe consider that before throwing around a damaging accusation that you have no way of knowing is true.
