Soccer players in England boycotted social media for 24 hours on April 19 to demand a crackdown on racism.
Within the last two weeks, three major racial events have taken place that led to the boycott.
Crowd members yelled “Typical black man, ruining the game,” to Linton Harris, Wymeswold FC player, that sent him off the field.
One of Harris’ teammates tried appealing to the referee after he refused to stop the game. Twelve minutes before the game’s end he was sent off the field and the rest of his team followed.
After this incident, Harris hung up his cleats. Harris told NBC News “Oh yeah, definitely, 100 percent – I’m done with playing football altogether.”
Mohamed Salah, Liverpool forward, faced religious discrimination.
Image courtesy of Дмитрий Голубович.
Chelsea stopped three people from attending the game after a video emerged of them chanting “Salah is a bomber.”
“It’s disgusting,” Jurgen Klopp, manager for Liverpool, said in response to the racism. “It’s another example of something that should not happen.”
He proceeded to say that if people are to do that should be banned from entering a stadium for life.
“Football is the best example of how different races can work so well together. Nobody cares where you are from or who your parents were or whatever,” Klopp said.
England and Tottenham Hotspur FC defender Danny Rose has been the recent receiver of racism as well. While playing for England, crowd members targeted him with monkey noises.
He later explained that he can’t wait for his career to end to be able to escape the racism in football.
He is “not willing to stand by while too little is done by football authorities and social media companies to protect players from this disgusting abuse.”
Chris Smalling, Manchester United defender, stated that he had seen it as just “part of the game”. But following it with saying that “time has come for Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to consider their channels taking responsibility for protecting the mental health of users…”
FIFA is also backing the boycott to “engage in combating racism and any form of discrimination not only in football but in society in general.”
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