Following the restrictions imposed by governments’ response to COVID-19, social media has become the primary way through which sports fans can watch and follow their favorite teams. However, social media has also brought to light the pervasive nature of racism in sports. Platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook have become avenues for disgruntled fans and rival fans to send hateful messages. This hateful and racist abuse has been directed towards black players such as Marcus Rashford, Antonio Rudiger, and Axel Tuanzebe just to mention a few.
Majority of the racist abuse towards black players, is often after disappointing results. For example, in the recent case of Axel Tuanzebe, his late substitution in the Everton matchup led to the player conceding a free kick that allowed Everton to equalize in stoppage time. The racist abuse was mostly from Manchester United fans who blamed the 2-point loss on the young Englishman. Other players such as Chelsea’s Reece James have similarly faced racist abuse from their own fan base. This online abuse of players has been facilitated by the fact that individuals can open social media accounts without verification.
Can the problem of racism in sports be tackled? One of the notable responses to tackling racism has been the kneeling down, by players, before football matches. This approach sensitizes fans on the importance of equal treatment of players irrespective of race. However, this approach has been ineffective. This has led to authorities calling on social media companies and government institutions to proactively deal with online racism. Approaches such as artificial intelligence to actively monitor threats will help in reducing racist abuse.
Sports are a way of uniting people, and the time is now for social media companies to say no and to denounce racism on their platforms.
SAY NO TO RACISM
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