Page 22 - Testify 1-14 Nov 2020

22 1 - 14 November 2020

Tottenham’s Ryan Sessegnon reveals online racist abuse

Continued from the back page

Tottenham Hotspur responded by saying, “Every- “targeted racist abuse”. But that does not make it missing penalties in their teams.
one at the club is with Sessegnon.” The club post- alright, as the Football Association and The PFA
ed a message via social media saying, “We are need to do something about it. Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solsk-
proud of the rich ethnic diversity that exists across jaer, has said that people who post racist abuse on
our communities, fans, staff, and players.” Online racist abuse is so common that England Un- social media “hide behind fake identities”.
der-21 international Sessegnon said he is “not even
“We are driven by inclusion and equality for all, surprised any more” after receiving racist abuse on Rashford’s England team-mate, Raheem Sterling
and nobody should have to endure such repulsive social media. had questioned whether there was the will among
abuse.” social media companies to combat online abuse
Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha and Manchester towards footballers after a study highlighted the
Bundesliga side, Hoffenheim, also posted a mes- City’s Raheem Sterling are among other players to shocking extent of the problem.
sage of support of their on-loan player, “Our player reveal they have been targeted.
Ryan Sessegnon was racially insulted in the worst More than 3,000 explicitly abusive messages were
way online.” Ivory Coast international, Zaha, was sent racist sent publicly via Twitter over the six-week Project
messages and imagery in July and a 12-year-old Restart period to 44 high-profile players, currently
“Hoffenheim stands for tolerance integration and boy was arrested in connection with the incident. or formerly involved in English football, research
respect. We reject all forms of racism, discrimina- showed.
tion, and exclusion and say no to racism.” Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford experienced
online racial abuse after missing a penalty against Forty-three per cent of the Premier League play-
The account that sent the racist messages to Ses- Crystal Palace last year. That was just a few days ers in the study (13 out of 30) experienced targeted
sengnon, who also plays at left-back, has since after his teammate, Paul Pogba, was also racial- and explicitly racist abuse, while three players who
been removed from Instagram. ly abused on social media for missing a penalty. called out racism during the period – Sterling, Zaha
A few weeks before these incidents, Chelsea strik- and Wycombe’s Adebayo Akinfenwa – received 50
The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) er, Tammy Abraham, and Reading’s Yakou Meite per cent of all the abuse.
said 43% of Premier League players experienced all said they received racist messages online after