The toxicity of social media in sport.

Sport and social media have been intertwined as soon as MySpace was launched in 2003. Videos of Ronaldinho trying out his new boots in the Nou Camp was shared everywhere. It was soon the most watched video on YouTube, and continued an exciting trend of social media and sport. For the first time, fans had a free, fast and reliable way to engage with their club outside of matches. But, as the years have gone on, more and more “fans” have been using social media to interact with their clubs for all the wrong reasons. Racism, sexism and bigotry are all pack and parcel of anything to do with sports nowadays. But why has it turned out like this?

A factor that has to be taken into consideration is the globalisation of sports. Whilst it is an extremely beneficial thing for clubs to have foreign fans, they come from corners of the world where Western ideals are not upheld. This can lead to clashes in opinions and attitudes, often resulting in discrimination and bigotry to both players and fans (Siddiqui, 2016).

The worst example of toxicity in sports was undeniably the abhorrent treatment of England players Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho- coming from their own fans as well. The trio missed their penalties in the Euro 2020 final, which England ultimately lost to Italy, but the blame was exclusively on the three players after the final whistle. Countless tweets after the game included horrific racist abuse aimed towards them, with some even being death threats and asking the players to end their life (Walker-Roberts, 2022). This was a prime example of how far the treatment players face goes to, and players can expect abuse online after a mistake in a game. Harry Maguire, for example, the former Manchester United captain, has long been made a scapegoat for Manchester United’s weak performances. He has come out saying he can deal with it, but the impact on his mental health outside the public eye must be drastic (Bernstein, 2023).

The video below, an interview with boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, discusses the toxicity of social media in sport:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK-TpNxYyOg

via On a Mission on YouTube

Initiatives such as No Room For Racism offers a new insight into the harms of toxicity and racism in the modern sports world. No Room For Racism was launched in 2019 with the intention of educating fans about conduct, and offer gateways into football for BME and disadvantaged background personnel, seeing over 15000 jobs created for these groups (Premier League, 2023).

In conclusion, the marriage between sports and social media has provided heartwarming and exciting moments, but as time has passed and people have become more and more comfortable on social media, toxicity has become a major issue for sports clubs around the world. But, there have been exciting initiatives, such as Show Racism the Red Card and No Room For Racism, which educates fans about what is relevant to say.