Greater Manchester police have confirmed they are investigating racist comments sent to a number of Manchester United players over social media.
The intervention comes as a number of prominent Premier League players have revealed they have received racist abuse in the past seven days. United’s Marcus Rashford, Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial have all been targeted, alongside Romaine Sawyers of West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea’s Reece James.
Individuals and clubs, as well as the Football Association and Premier League, have condemned the abuse and called on social media companies to do more to prevent the posting of hateful messages.
“We are aware of a number of Manchester United football players suffering abuse on social media accounts between Wednesday and Saturday,” a statement from Greater Manchester police read. “Nobody should be subject to such abuse and it is deeply upsetting not only to those who suffer it, but to all those who come across this awful language too.
“These hateful words have no place anywhere in our society whether online or otherwise. A number of these comments have been reported to us and we are liaising with those involved to provide support and we will be investigating these crimes thoroughly.”
In a series of tweets on Saturday night, Rashford revealed he had been the target of abuse but had chosen not to share its contents.
“It would be irresponsible to do so,” he wrote. “I have beautiful children of all colours following me and they don’t need to read it.”
Rashford described the abuse as “humanity and social media at its worst”, adding: “Yes I’m a black man and I live every day proud that I am. No one, or no one comment, is going to make me feel any different. So sorry if you were looking for a strong reaction, you’re just simply not going to get it here.”
Last week the government held a meeting with several leading black figures within the game to discuss the problem of online abuse. They are expected to present a new online harms bill before parliament this year which the government says will “require tech firms to take action so that what is unacceptable in the street and in stands is unacceptable online too”.
