Prince William has issued a powerful statement on the scourge of “despicable” racism in football, saying “we all have a responsibility” to stamp it out.
The Duke of Cambridge, who is president of the Football Association, posted a personal message on Twitter tonight saying racist abuse of players “must stop now”.
His personal intervention came just hours after Manchester United star Marcus Rashford revealed he was subjected to "humanity and social media at its worst" after receiving racist abuse on Saturday.
William said: “Racist abuse - whether on the pitch, in the stands, or on social media - is despicable and it must stop now.
“We all have a responsibility to create an environment where such abuse is not tolerated, and those who choose to spread hate and division are held accountable for their actions.
“That responsibility extends to the platforms where so much of this activity now takes place.
“I commend all those players, supporters, clubs and organisations who continue to call out and condemn this abuse in the strongest terms.”
He signed off the tweet on the Kensington Royal Twitter profile with ‘W’.
Rashford, who was recently awarded an MBE for his tireless campaign fighting food poverty during the coronavirus crisis took to social media to reveal he had received multiple racist messages on Instagram on Saturday.
They were sent to the England striker after United's 0-0 draw with Arsenal.
The 22-year-old said: "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.
"I'm not sharing screenshots. It would be irresponsible to do so and as you can imagine there's nothing original in them.
"I have beautiful children of all colours following me and they don't need to read it. Beautiful colours that should only be celebrated."
In a statement released on Sunday, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said it was aware that a number of Manchester United players had suffered abuse on social media between Wednesday and Saturday.
On Saturday Premier League side West Brom contacted police after their player Romaine Sawyers was sent a racist message during Tuesday's 5-0 defeat to Manchester City.
A club statement said: "Albion will offer Romaine the relevant support required at this time and continues with its long-standing commitment to help rid football of racism."
Albion boss Sam Allardyce also offered his support to Sawyers and questioned what could be done to stop online abuse.
He said: "It leaves a big question about whether reporting it is enough. Romaine - or any black person across the country - should not have to be open to any type of abuse on social media.
"He is extremely upset, as anybody would be. More than Romaine have suffered throughout football in the last few days.
"Social media sites need to act in a more responsible way. We have to do our best to cut this out."
Prince William has previously criticised social media giants for not dealing with issues such as fake news and cyber-bullying.
In 2018 he developed a Cyberbullying Taskforce and implored companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to be more responsible in stopping abuse on their platforms.
A palace source said William's intervention was "a direct result" of the sickening abuse directed at Marcus Rashford.
William has previously spoken out about disgraceful racism in football.
The Duke said he was “fed up” with attacks on black and ethnic minority players, during a visit to Hendon football club in north London in September 2019.
Speaking about abuse at the time directed at Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham and Romelu Lukaku, who plays for Inter Milan, William said it was “outrageous”.
William said he felt those incidents gave the impression that any progress that had been made on the issue was sadly being reversed.
He said: “People are now talking a little bit about mental health issues but I imagine talking about racism is still quite a difficult subject, especially when it’s happening in such a public fashion with Premier League matches or [in the] Champions League.
“We’ve got to do something about it. I’m fed up with it. I’m so bored of it.”
