Stoke City winger and Republic of Ireland international James McClean has shared images of his Instagram inbox which contains abusive anti-Irish messages as well as death threats.
McClean has spoken publicly recently about the abuse he receives for being Irish but how his form of abuse goes unnoticed or is just ignored.
The 31-year-old posted a statement on his Instagram page on Friday and asked: “Does being abused for being Irish and anti Irish abuse acceptable? Is it not popular enough to be… spoke out about too?
The Stoke man shared an image from an abusive message he reviewed on Instagram that threatened to burn down his home. The message said: “Don’t make me set your house on fire and burn everyone inside it”
McClean has been subject to abuse for his entire career and it seems the Derry man has had enough as he tries to bring sectarian abuse to the anti-discrimination table.
During an interview with Sky Sports News last April McClean said “Footballers are a free hit. It’s like it’s viewed as we earn this amount of money so we should just take it.”