By: Paul MacInnes and Pamela Duncan
Figures from across the world of football have shown their support for England’s black stars after they were subjected to another night of racist abuse on social media following defeat in the European Championship final.
Provisional data analysis conducted by the Guardian, in collaboration with Hope Not Hate, found more than 120 instances of England players receiving direct racial abuse on Twitter in the hours following the game. The majority of messages contained the n-word while others compared players to monkeys or used emojis associated with racist slurs. This compares to 44 racist messages during England’s first three matches of the tournament. Streams of abuse were also posted on Instagram.
The Metropolitan police say they will investigate the “offensive and racist” posts directed at players. Greater Manchester police are also conducting an inquiry into “racially aggravated damage” after a mural in south Manchester celebrating local hero Marcus Rashford was defaced.
The England manager, Gareth Southgate, said the abuse players had received was “unforgivable”. England lost against Italy on penalties and the three players who missed their kicks – Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho – were subject to much of the abuse, alongside Raheem Sterling who is a constant target.
“For some of [the players] to be abused is unforgivable really,” Southgate said. “I know a lot has come from abroad. People who track those things have been able to explain that. But not all of it.
“It’s just not what we stand for. We have been a beacon of light in bringing people together in people being able to relate to the national team, and the national team stands for everybody and so that togetherness has to continue. We heal together as a team now, and we’re there for them, and I know that 99% of the public will be as well.
“Bukayo in particular has been an absolute star in this tournament, [he has shown] incredible maturity and the way he has played has brought a smile to so many people’s faces. He’s become such a popular member of the group and I know he has got everybody’s support.”
The Duke of Cambridge, who is president of the Football Association, said he was “sickened” by the abuse. “It is totally unacceptable that players have to endure this abhorrent behaviour. It must stop now and all those involved should be held accountable.”
Saka, who is 19, received an outpouring of public support including from his former school as well as a number of celebrities such as David Beckham and the Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful. Saka’s club, Arsenal, released a statement saying: “Hold your head high, we are so very proud of you,” before calling for social media platforms to “act to ensure this disgusting abuse to which our players are subjected on a daily basis stops now”.
The call for action is now a familiar refrain, with football collectively prioritising the issue of online abuse for the past year. The decision by England players to take the knee before matches was in part informed by their experience of being abused online, and for messages to then remain uncensored and abusers free to post again.
The anti-racist organisation Kick It Out, in expressing its own condemnation of another disheartening night, turned the focus on the government to “step up and keep its promise” over tighter regulation for social platforms.
Calling the abuse received by players “appalling and unacceptable”, the chief executive of Kick it Out, Tony Burnett, said: “We call on those with the power to act now. Media companies need to do more to stamp out abuse on their platforms, and the government needs to step up and keep its promise to regulate. The online safety bill could be a game changer and we aim to help make that happen.”
One top priority for those within football is to end the online anonymity of users, with platforms becoming required to hold identifying information on individuals. The Guardian understands that the move is gaining support ahead of the Online Safety bill coming before parliament this year. Critics say it could have the long-term effect of harming the ability of minorities to speak freely online and that online abuse is already posted by people using their own identity.
A spokesperson for Twitter said: “The abhorrent racist abuse directed at England players last night has absolutely no place on Twitter. In the past 24 hours, through a combination of machine learning based automation and human review, we have swiftly removed over 1,000 tweets and permanently suspended a number of accounts for violating our rules.”
A Facebook spokesperson said: “We quickly removed comments and accounts directing abuse at England’s footballers last night and we’ll continue to take action against those that break our rules.”
Courtesy The Guardian.
