On July 11, 2021, the UEFA Euro 2020 final was played between Italy and England. The match, played at the Wembley stadium in London, finished 1-1 after extra time. Italy won the penalty shoot-out that followed 3-2 to be crowned champions of Europe.
England’s Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who missed their penalties in the shoot-out, were at the receiving end of racist abuse on social media. These three players were specifically targeted and their social media accounts were filled with racist language and emojis.
Rashford said that he would never apologise for who he is, Sancho later said that racists would never win, and Saka said that he “instantly” knew he would receive hate when he missed the final penalty. While social media companies stated that their moderation technology failed to handle the stream of abuse, the bigger problem this incident highlighted was the growing number of cases where hate was perpetrated without a face.
This incident was followed by an outpouring of support for the players who were targeted with other players and governing bodies coming in with strong statements, reiterating their stand and adding that such behaviour, online or otherwise, will never be tolerated.
This isn’t an isolated incident and instances like these where players are subjected to harsh treatment online is becoming more and more prevalent. The most recent such incident took place during the T20 World Cup, when India’s Mohammed Shami was targeted for the religion he practices following India’s loss to Pakistan.
With the online space proving to be an even more difficult place to put in checks and balances, the collective will of everyone would be necessary to weed out such behaviour.
Two sides of a coin
Following the UEFA Euro 2020 final, Marcus Rashford was not only subjected to online abuse, but even a mural of his was vandalised. Others, however, quickly used bin liners to tape over offensive words that were written on the mural, before more people stuck their messages of support on top of the bin liners.
A street artist then worked on the mural again to repair it and restore it to how it was. Other murals were also created to support the three players who were subjected to online abuse.
Picture Credit : Google
