Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli receives the most abuse on social media of any other Premier League footballer, stats from anti-discrimination group Kick It Out have revealed.
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Balotelli has been the subject of much controversy since his move to Anfield, with the Italian only managing to score one Premier League goal for the entirety of the season. However, the research compiled by Kick It Out have revealed that the abuse levelled at Balotelli is emblematic of a much deeper issue with fans of the so-called “beautiful” game, as players of colour are targeted far more than white players.
Kick It Out discovered 8,000 instances of direct abuse aimed towards Balotelli’s official social network accounts between August 2014 and March 2015, with 52% of these posts being racist in nature. Arsenal’s Danny Welbeck received the second largest amount of abuse, with 1,700 abusive posts posted to him of which 50% were racist, while Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge received 1,600.
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134,000 abusive messages were found in total, with 39,000 being sent directly to players and 95,000 to their clubs. Kick It Out divided the nature of the posts into categories:
- Race (28 per cent)
- Gender (25 per cent)
- Sexual orientation (19 per cent)
- Disability (11 per cent)
- Antisemitism (9 per cent)
- Islamophobia (5 per cent)
- Age (2 per cent)
- Gender reassignment (1 per cent)
Despite the large number of abusive posts being sent out, only 140 were reported to Kick It Out during the time period in which they conducted their research. The organisation plans to regroup and focus upon developing a team of people who will work within football and social media in order to directly correspond with police.
Speaking to Sky Sports, a spokesperson for the Premier League said: “Our clubs support their players by reporting discriminatory abuse to the appropriate authorities, and to the social media sites on which any comments have been made.
“We welcome any opportunity to further engage with the relevant statutory bodies, as well as social media sites, to discuss reporting procedures and what more action can be taken to support victims of abuse.”
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