Treat online abuse as a hate crime, says union

ABUSING footballers over social media should be treated as a ‘hate crime’, according to the Scottish players’ union. And PFA Scotland chief executive Fraser Wishart has urged members to report all incidents — even if that means getting the police involved. In the wake of Celtic defender Shane Duffy again receiving vile personal abuse on Instagram, Wishart revealed that he was increasingly concerned about the rise in cases. ‘Much of the abuse could be regarded as hate crime,’ he said. ‘And, if someone abused one of our members in this manner in the street, they would be charged. ‘The abuse must stop. It can affect players’ lives and perhaps, more disturbingly, cause family members great distress and upset. ‘Abuse of any sort, be it within or outwith football, is unacceptable. There is no place or excuse for it. We regularly

advise our members about their behaviour, and that of others, on social media. ‘This became a common feature of our updates to them particularly during lockdown. The recent rise in abuse over social media towards footballers is alarming and we would encourage any of our members experiencing this to come forward and report it, be that to us, their club or the police.’ Celtic condemned the ‘shameful and cowardly attack’ on loan defender Duffy, who received a message mocking the death of his father — and was told ‘I hope you die in your sleep’ — on Instagram. The social media company, having previously refused to suspend a user who had abused Duffy after an apology and deletion of the offending posts, said last night that they’d pulled the account of the latest offender. But Wishart, who stressed his union’s cross-border and cross-code cooperation with other sports, accused big firms like Instagram and Twitter of being slow to respond to their concerns. ‘We are working closely with colleagues at the players unions in other sports such as rugby and cricket on this issue,’ he said. ‘In particular, we have had discussions with our colleagues at the English PFA about the work they are doing around social media abuse. ‘There is a general frustration at the lack of action from the social media companies and we ask them to liaise with us and other unions to find a way of rooting out these individuals and stopping the abuse received by players.’