George Cran

Words not strong enough to condemn online abuse

I DON’T often veer away from football in this column but the events of the past wee while cannot be ignored.

I’m talking about the despicable abuse sent to Dundee players Jonathan Afolabi and Charlie Adam just for doing their jobs.

Despite being a man of words, I’ve found it quite difficult to put down exactly the right ones to justify my feelings on this.

As regular readers will have seen, usually I just splurge any old nonsense on the page and let the sports editor deal with it.

This one, though, has taken a bit of thinking about.

The difficulty in doing so is I can’t fathom what it takes for someone to say these things to people they’ve never even met and know barely anything about.

A big part of that is the anonymity people are given online on social media.

It’s so easy to send horrific abuse to anybody you want on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or wherever.

Because you can just delete your account afterwards and start a new one up.

Having grown up without it – I’d just left school when social media started up in earnest – I don’t particularly like it, I must say.

I use Twitter a fair bit but try my best to restrict that to when I am working. I find I’m a happier person without it and that says it all really.

We’ve all said things in anger we regret. Typing them out and firing them off like that, though, takes an extra step of thought.

Football is a game filled with abuse, we all know that.

Footballers and managers are often yelling all sorts of stuff at each other on the pitch.

The same goes in the stands, when fans are allowed in anyway.

Doesn’t happen too many times in the press box, though I’ve seen a few fall-outs.

It’s not particularly pleasant but we accept it as the way of things, as long as the line of decency isn’t crossed.

The vast majority of it is friendly banter and I’d argue that is the bedrock of being a football supporter.

Being able to lord it over your pals because your team beat theirs is one of the purest joys in life, I must say.

I absolutely love football, it has given me a career and is a major part of my identity, just like many reading this.

But at no point do I ever think it’s anything more than a bit of a pantomime and I love it for the soap opera feel it brings to real life.

But there are plenty who go too far, take the game and all that goes with it a bit too seriously.

Using family bereavement and racism to hurt someone else is way beyond the line of decency.

It is inhuman, horrific, horrendous, disgusting, despicable – whichever word you use to describe it just doesn’t feel strong enough to justify the fury right-minded people feel about this.

Dundee boss James McPake spoke very well on the subject earlier this week and I completely agree something has to be done to protect people.

Otherwise the pit of despair the world is in right now will just get worse and worse.

Jonathan Afolabi and Charlie Adam have been subjected to despicable abuse recently.