Swansea City to boycott their social media amid ongoing racial abuse issues 

Following the continuous racial abuse suffered by multiple football players on social media, Swansea City have become the first English club to boycott all their social platforms, in an effort to stand together and fight against this ongoing issue. 

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In a statement released by the club parts read "Swansea City has chosen

to take a club-wide stance in the battle against abuse and discrimination

of all forms on social media.

 

"As a football club, we have seen several of our players subjected to

abhorrent abuse in the past seven weeks alone, and we feel it is right to

take a stand against behaviour that is a blight on our sport, and society

at large. 

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"We also want to stand with players from other clubs who have had to

endure vile discrimination on social media platforms.

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“We are a family, and we will always stand shoulder to shoulder with each

other, whether that’s on the pitch or helping to fight injustice off it.”

 

"Enough is enough." 

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The boycott will start today (8th April) at 5pm and will end at 5pm on

Thursday 15th April. Like many clubs, Swansea have grown tired of little

action being taken against online trolls by the platforms and have taken matters into their own hands. 

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The clubs boycott will take place on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat, with all "first-team players, those in the academy professional phase (under-23s and under-18s), Swansea City Ladies, our Community Trust, senior club staff" all taking part. 

 

Following their announcement other clubs have stood by the Championship side and have followed suit. The most notable being Scottish Premiership club Rangers FC. Ranger's have released in a statement that their boycott will start today (8th April) at 7pm. 

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                                                                            The statement read "Rangers can confirm that as of 7pm this evening                                                                                  (8th April), our players and management will take part in a week-long                                                                                  boycott of all social media channels.

 

                                                                            "This is to underline the ongoing concerns over a lack of accountability                                                                              and responsibility from social media outlets. In particular, we are                                                                                          concerned with the daily racist abuse our players have to endure, and                                                                                believe that although social media can be a very positive and healthy                                                                                  platform for communication, there is undoubted concern the levels of                                                                                  hate are now spiralling out of control."

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The Scottish sides announcement comes days after Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara suffered racial abuse at the hands of a Slavia Prague player during their Europa League tie. Rangers are calling for more to be done on and off the pitch to tackle racial abuse and discrimination. 

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As online racial abuse of football players continues, social media boycotts may become more frequent as clubs call on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to do more to protect their players from these malicious online trolls. It is only a matter of time until other clubs follow the likes of Swansea and Rangers and leave social media, until more is done.

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Enough is enough.