English Football boycotts social media on the weekend but will it change anything?
Photo by espn.com
This past weekend soccer clubs in England along with the English Premier League boycotted social media platforms to voice their unified message that online abuse must end. Abuse of players online has been a huge concern especially in England where Black players both current and former have been trolled by online accounts that abuse them racially.
I'm not sure I have seen a league do this before and although it is a good gesture, I have to ask myself if this is a worthwhile effort. Even though there is a real concern for players there must be a real concern that people who engage in racially abusing other people online whether they are athletes or not should be punished, the question remains how.
I won't get into that in this post but I will say that more needs to be done to protect players and in the process protect all social media users from racial abuse. Here are some numbers for you to get an idea of the seriousness of this. According to this BBC Sport article, In 2020, the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), found 56 abusive posts on Twitter in November of 2020 alone. The same article says that Manchester United had its analysis that found a 350% increase in abuse directed at its players. From September 2019 to February 2021 there were 3300 posts directed at players and 86% of those abusive posts were deemed racist and 8% were deemed homophobic or transphobic.
The problem needs more than a boycott but it is a step that shows people are noticing.
According to BBC Sport, here are some of the other sports organizations who took part in the boycott:
Who is taking part?
Among the organisations boycotting Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are:
Football: Clubs from the Premier League, English Football League, Women's Super League, Scottish Professional Football League and Scottish women's football; governing bodies including the Football Association, Scottish FA, Football Association of Wales and Irish Football Association; European governing body Uefa; a number of other football organisations
Cricket: The England and Wales Cricket Board, first-class counties, women's regional teams and the Professional Cricketers' Association
Netball: The Superleague, England Netball, Netball Players Association
Rugby union: England Rugby, Scottish Rugby, Welsh Rugby, France Rugby, Premiership Rugby, clubs and the Rugby Players' Association
Rugby league: The Rugby Football League, Super League Europe, Rugby League World Cup 2021 and the Rugby League Players' Association
Corporate bodies: Premier League and Women's Super League sponsor Barclays, England sponsor Nationwide, Adidas; broadcasters Sky Sports, BT Sport and Talksport
Formula 1: All drivers
I will leave you with a video featuring two former Premier League stars now retired who speak on online abuse. Ian Wright (on the left) has been an outspoken personality on social media and has faced a lot of abuse over the years. Wright talks to former English star Alan Shearer about it in this intense conversation.
Video from Premier League/Youtube
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