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Football: players boycott social media!

By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw Several leading English Premier League football players are supporting a campaign by the PFA, the England and Wales Professional Footballers’ Association, to boycott social media for twenty-four hours, which began on Good Friday, 19 April 2019, to draw attention to racism in football. The PFA campaign, under the hashtag #Enough, Make a stand against racism, is backed by FIFPro, the global players’ union, and FIFA, the world governing body of football. The head of equalities at the PFA, Simone Pound, commented: “The PFA has always been at the forefront of tackling racism …. and we will do all we can to put an end to the abuse players face on the pitch and online.” FIFA tweeted: “We support the initiative of the PFA – FIFA is fully engaged in combatting racism and discrimination….. FIFA is also preparing a concrete action with worldwide impact that will launch a strong campaign against discrimination.” And FIFPro also tweeted their support of the PFA initiative. England black players were subjected to racist chants last month at their Euro 2020 qualifier in Montenegro (see GSLTR post of 29 March 2019) by Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw) and Danny Rose, Tottenham defender, said recently that he had had enough of racism throughout his career and could not wait to retire from the game! Furthermore, Jordan Cousins, midfielder of Queens Park Rangers, has called on fellow players to boycott social media permanently. It will be interesting to see to what extent words are translated into actions and what happens next in the campaign against racism in the ‘beautiful game’! Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.      



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