This is probably going to sound a bit odd, but I wonder if the publicity for recent racist abuse of footballers is causing more of it? There's a thing called the Werther effect, which you'll probably have noticed, even if you don't know what it is. Reports of suicides generally don't list the cause of death because of this thing, as it's the response of copycats. Is it possible that people read about this abuse in the media and then repeat such behaviour online? If so, what do you do about it? You can't just ignore it.
It can likely be traced to the pre-match taking of the knee, which has been a red rag to racist knobheads since it started
I think it’s more a case of the haters feeling the need to make their presence felt because of the current profile of the anti-racism movement, which is promoted by football with the taking of the knee. The more visible the support, the more the racists come out in opposition.
Prince Phillip has died that is a sad loss for his family but even a sadder day for the public , 40 days of flag shaggers and Nicholas Witchell on the BBC
Gammon that drape themselves in the flag every chance they get , see Farage, Hartley Brewer, Gove, Johnson snr and jnr although both would drop it like a hot turd should the **** hit the fan
I take your point, but the term as you intend it could easily be misinterpreted to include people who are just patriotic. And people like me that have served their country in the armed forces. I appreciate your qualification though.
I was thinking about this the other day when news came out that a few significant clubs (Swansea and Rangers iirc) are boycotting all social media for a week over the racism issue. Reports of players being racially abused on social media are sadly appearing on a daily if not hourly basis these days. Bergwijn and Davinson are 2 recent examples. But still, I do wonder... Are there really (suddenly) more racist people taking to social media to vent? Is social media a significantly nastier place than it was 12 months ago? I've heard the argument that lack of fans at games means that the more Neanderthal among us aren't able to vent their anger anywhere and their social media accounts have become mouthpieces for their rage. The fact that on social media a thousand people can and usually will disagree with you just for the sake of starting an argument means that people's rage is whipped up even further until they are positively frothing at the keyboard. But I just don't buy any of that. I don't think fans are more racist now than they were 12 months ago. And i don't think social media has got significantly nastier. I think this stuff has probably gone on for years. What has changed in the wake of things like the BLM movement is that the mass media and clubs worldwide now acknowledge that a player getting racially abused is newsworthy and deserving of a response.
In case you missed it, Prince Philip has died. R.I.P You know it’s a seismic event when ITV cancel their soaps.