BEVERLY HILLS, April 25, (THEWILL) – The incessant spate of online abuse directed at football players and others associated with the sport has continued to worsen with more and more victims appearing to suffer abuse with disturbing regularity.
This has necessitated the English Football Association (FA), the English Premier League (EPL), the English Football League (EFL), the FA Women’s Super League and other organisations to collectively decide on a boycott of social media next weekend in protest of the unhealthy situation faced by those at the receiving end of this sort of abuse.
The scheduled withdrawal from the services will start from 3pm on Friday, April 30 until 11:59pm on Monday, May 3. These main bodies of football administration in England are to be joined in their boycott by the Women’s Championship, the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), the League Managers Association (LMA), the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), Kick It Out and the Football Supporters Association (FSA).
The statement highlighting this huge step from these organisations read: “As a collective, the game recognises the considerable reach and value of social media to our sport. The connectivity and access to supporters who are at the heart of football remains vital.
“However, the boycott shows English football coming together to emphasise that social media companies must do more to eradicate online hate, while highlighting the importance of educating people in the ongoing fight against discrimination.
“In our letter of February 2021, English football outlined its requests of social media companies, urging filtering, blocking and swift takedowns of offensive posts, an improved verification process and re-registration prevention, plus active assistance for law enforcement agencies to identify and prosecute originators of illegal content. While some progress has been made, we reiterate those requests today in an effort to stem the relentless flow of discriminatory messages and ensure that there are real-life consequences for purveyors of online abuse across all platforms.”
They made no pretence about the fact that it may not be enough but continued by saying: “Boycott action from football in isolation will, of course, not eradicate the scourge of online discriminatory abuse, but it will demonstrate that the game is willing to take voluntary and proactive steps in this continued fight.
“Finally, while football takes a stand, we urge the UK Government to ensure its Online Safety Bill will bring in strong legislation to make social media companies more accountable for what happens on their platforms, as discussed at the DCMS Online Abuse roundtable earlier this week.”
On his part, the Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Masters, made the following remarks: “Racist behaviour of any form is unacceptable and the appalling abuse we are seeing players receive on social media platforms cannot be allowed to continue.
“The Premier League and our clubs stand alongside football in staging this boycott to highlight the urgent need for social media companies to do more in eliminating racial hatred. We will not stop challenging social media companies and want to see significant improvements in their policies and processes to tackle online discriminatory abuse on their platforms.
“Football is a diverse sport, which brings together communities and cultures from all backgrounds and this diversity makes the competition stronger. No Room For Racism represents all the work we do to promote equality, diversity and inclusion and tackling discrimination.”
Sanjay Bhandari, the chair of the equality and inclusion organisation, Kick It Out, said: “Social media is now sadly a regular vessel for toxic abuse. This boycott signifies our collective anger at the damage this causes to the people who play, watch and work in the game. By removing ourselves from the platforms, we are making a symbolic gesture to those with power. We need you to act. We need you to create change.
“We need social media companies to make their platforms a hostile environment for trolls rather than for the football family. We need the Government to hold its nerve and keep its promises to regulate. The Online Safety Bill could be a game changer and we aim to help make that happen. There should be no space for hate and everyone can play their part. If you watch, work in or love the game, join in.”
THEWILL recalls that former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry recently announced his own personal boycott of social media until the problem of racist abuse was properly tackled, and other players such as Wilfried Zaha have also highlighted the racist messages they are sent. Also, coach Gareth Southgate urged players of his Three Lions English team to cut off social media the way Henry did, if they considered it necessary.
As the news of the broad boycott from entire administrative framework of English football broke, the official Twitter account of Tottenham Hotspur tweeted out a post that informed readers of the decision of English teams to join in the boycott for the sake of players and staff who have suffered and to press the insistence that something must be done to deal with the scourge.
From the account Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial), the message read: “We will join teams across the country in boycotting social media next weekend, in response to the ongoing and sustained discriminatory abuse received by players and many others connected to football.”
These actions draw the public’s attention to the menace, provide a strong voice and sends a clear message to the platforms that these abuses have consequences, they have gone on for too long and something drastic needs to be implemented to check online abuse going forward.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
