Arsenal's chief executive, Vinai Venkatesham, has described social media abuse of black players as the 'biggest problem' in football, warning that its impact cannot be underestimated. Speaking at the FT Business of Football summit on Thursday, he called for urgent action from social media companies to tackle the issue.
The comments come after Arsenal forward Eddie Nketiah became the latest high-profile footballer to be targeted, receiving a racist message in reply to a training picture posted on Twitter. Twitter confirmed it had 'permanently suspended' the account responsible. Other players recently abused include Manchester United's Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Lauren James, and Chelsea's Reece James.
Venkatesham said: 'The abuse of so many of our black footballers on social channels is probably and possibly the biggest problem we have in the game at the moment. Footballers, referees and officials are all human beings and have feelings like anybody else, and we really must not underestimate the impact that social media abuse can have on an individual.'
He added that the abuse was becoming 'increasingly normalised' and called for a collective effort: 'Football, the players, and social media companies need to come together to solve this, because this is a moment in time. If we don't make positive progress I really, really worry about the path we are heading on.'
Arsenal provides support including psychologists for affected players, but Venkatesham stressed the need for social media platforms to do more. He questioned why pirated content is removed within minutes while racist abuse remains online. Instagram recently announced new measures to tackle abuse, but Venkatesham said clubs cannot solve the problem alone.
