A staggering 44% of Premier League footballers received abuse online in the 2020/21 campaign, a study has found.
It’s a hot topic at current, especially in wake of the Euro 2020 final, with players having abuse directed towards them on social media.
Anyone who has spent any amount of time keeping an eye on players’ Twitter or Instagram accounts will be aware of the prevalence of the issue.
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As reported by Sky Sports, the PFA have now conducted a study into the matter, finding that 176 of the 400 players whose accounts were monitored received abuse – that’s 44%.
The report notes that 20% of the total abuse was sent to just four players. The players are not named by the report.
The study also found a 48% uptick in unmoderated racist abuse sent to players throughout last season, a truly concerning figure which stresses the need for change.
Homophobic, ableist and sexist abuse was also detected through the study, proving that the issue is not just related to racism, but discrimination as a whole.
For whatever reason, many football fans on social media feel it acceptable to send abuse to players and safely assume that they will face no repercussions.
Until their is major reforms from social media platforms to tackle this abuse, the issue is only going to get worse, as has been proven by the study referred to in Sky Sports’ report.
We’re getting tired of reporting on it, so we can only imagine how the players targeted must be feeling.