Opinion: the social media companies who host and profit from such hate have only played lip service to this issue to date
The English football team started Euro 2020 to the sound of booing from their own fans for taking the knee against racism. They finished the tournament reading racist and abusive messages directed at the players who had missed penalties. What that tournament experience reflects, particularly for black English players, is the ubiquity of the hate and abuse that contemporary footballers now face. It is not just the stadium where they have to experience this type of abuse, but essentially anywhere they bring their phone.
Although the specific instances of abuse directed towards players in Euro 2020 garnered significant headlines, this has been an escalating problem for a number of years and is something that players continue to experience at their clubs. At Euro 2016 alone, 22,000 instances of discriminatory posts were directed at players and teams. During the 2019/2020 Premier League season, the Professional Footballers Association found that 43% of EPL players had 'experienced targeted and explicitly racist abuse on public Twitter'.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, The New European commentator and columnist Bonnie Greer on the racist abuse levelled at black English footballers and the UK government's response to it
English football has long wrestled with problems concerning violence and abuse from fans within the stadium. Although a lot has been done in recent years to fight this fan behaviour, it is still a problem. The emergence of social media has increased reported instances of hate and at the same time made them more visible to the public and the individuals/groups they are targeted at.
High profile players like Marcus Rashford, Megan Rapinoe and James McClean are subject to more abuse than others on the basis of their race, gender, sexuality, national and religious identity. However, this is not an issue that is solely about individuals – as dreadful as it must be to experience such hate – but the segments of society that these individuals represent. Increasing media focus on this issue is representative of a wider societal problem. The number of cases of online hate reported in Ireland and the UK has risen with authorities acknowledging the problem is out of control.
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From RTÉ One's Claire Byrne Live, Irish international footballers Darren Randolph, Adam Idah, Cyrus Christie and Ed Randolph talk about the racism they have faced
Why then focus on this problem within the context of football? Football has by far the largest audience of any sport and there is a significance and symbolism attached to the game that speaks to questions of economic and political power and social/cultural identity. The high level of coverage the English game receives in Ireland, means it is used as a lens in which we understand and debate social and political issues (e.g. Black Lives Matter, national identity and hyper-capitalism).
The psycho-drama of watching former Irish (youth) internationals Jack Grealish and Declan Rice almost delivering a major tournament for England would probably tell you more about the current state of English-Irish relations than almost any economic or political activity between the countries. In short, football is used as a way of communicating who we are, and also significantly, who we are not. Consequently, it is a lightning rod for conflict and this means it can often spill over into intolerance and abuse.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Fiachra O Cionnaith reports on calls to tackle online racist abuse against sportspeople
Although this is a big problem, the good news is that football has the potential to be a catalyst for addressing the problem within wider society as well as drawing attention to the scale of online abuse. There have been many studies which have documented the role of football as a space for social and political transformation. However, the complexity of this problem escalated by the advent of social media means that it requires the input of a variety of different types of expertise (data analytics, social media communication, sociology, business etc) and the buy-in of relevant networks (football governing bodies, fans, charitable organisations etc) to face this collectively and coherently.
I am part of a team of researchers from Ireland and the UK funded by the Irish Research Council and the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council to study this issue in collaboration with sporting and fan organisations. The project will focus on how digital technologies can transform understanding of online abuse, revealing the extent/nature of online hate speech in football over the last 15 years. The overall objective is to develop a network of researchers and stakeholders to improve knowledge and apply findings to the development of tools to combat hate speech through education and resources.
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From RTÉ News, England players receive racist abuse following defeat to Italy on penalties in Euro 2020 final
Increased media attention, research funding and the expanding number of organisations focusing on discrimination in sport are promising signs. However, the elephant(s) in the room are the social media companies which host such hate and ironically profit from the increased engagement that comes with divisive content. The majority of the social media companies have only played lip service to this issue. Twitter recently shared a report which documented the high number of abusive tweets they deleted within 24 hours of the Euro 2020 final and the steps they have taken to remove accounts.
Although welcome, this is merely addressing the problem at a surface level. The people who post this abuse need to be held accountable and support and pressure needs to also come from government regulation. We can hope that the reaction to the abuse players received in Euro 2020 is a turning point. However, the fear is that that the media’s focus will turn elsewhere as a new season kicks off and the abuse will become normalised.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
