Daily Express - 23.08.2019

66 Daily Express Friday, August 23, 2019

DX1ST

Keyboard warriors would not

abuse Pogba face to

face, so let’s stop

them doing it online

Neil SQUIRES

Our Chief Sports Reporter tackles the big issues head on

●RORY

McIlroy’s solution

to golf’s slow-play

crisis – smaller fields – is

undergoing a test run at the

PGA Tour Championship at the

moment. The trouble is that

one of the players in the

30-man field is Bryson

DeChambeau...

there to help inform and

differentiate. World Rugby,

in their desire to appear

even-handed, have created

an entirely unnecessary recipe

for confusion.

If a change had to happen

they should have followed

cricket’s example and made

the showpiece events the

Men’s Rugby World Cup and the

Women’s Rugby World Cup.

The cup doesn’t fit

RUGBY UNION will no longer

have a World Cup and a

Women’s World Cup – it will

instead just have World Cups.

Japan 2019, which is for men,

will be followed by New Zealand

2021, for women, and then

France 2023, for men.

This misguided attempt

at gender neutrality from

the sport’s governing body

is a nonsense. Words are

TARGET: Paul

Pogba was

attacked by

the social

media racists

Picture: MARTIN

RICKETT

T

he depressing instances of a

black player missing a penalty

and then being racially abused

by deadbeats on social media

have supplied a tawdry backdrop to

the start of the football season.

Manchester United’s Paul Pogba,

Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham and

Reading’s Yakou Meite have all been

on the receiving end of the keyboard

cowards.

Twitter have promised to monitor

the traffic heading the way of 50 of

the most prominent black footballers

in the country proactively but

man-marking will go only part of the

way to dealing with the problem.

By the time the filth is spotted and

taken down it has already been out

there. Someone, somewhere – maybe

even the player or a member of their

family – has been contaminated by it.

Job done for the scumbag alone in

his bedroom.

Racism used to be out there as a

visible and audible part of a dark and

dismal terrace culture. Thankfully the

bananas and monkey chants were

driven away. They became socially

unacceptable.

That line still holds in the main.

When Raheem Sterling was abused at

Stamford Bridge last season it came as

a shock and Chelsea acted strongly in

banning six supporters.

The problem, though, has resurfaced

on a different platform and with grim

regularity. Twitter has blamed societal

reasons for racism’s return to football.

It is a valid point. Whichever side of

the Brexit argument you take, it is an

uncomfortable truth that this country

has become a less tolerant place since

the referendum campaign.

But it is social media which has

evolved into the vehicle of choice to

deliver hate direct to the target and for

that the companies involved must

shoulder more responsibility.

To say they are merely the conduit

for others’ failings is not good enough.

Twitter have passed on this season’s

cases to the police. If the individuals

are caught and convicted, it would be

instructive to arrange some sort of

restorative justice.

Imagine just how small the

perpetrator would be made to feel

in the presence of a multi-talented,

multi-lingual athlete such as Pogba.

Just how pathetic and empty would

he – and it is always a he – feel when

confronted by such a confident,

powerful figure. Conspicuous success

from a man earning millions doing a

job he loves on one side, abject failure

on the other.

But it should not be the

responsibility of Pogba, or any other

player, to deal with this sort of

garbage. The social media companies

can, and should, do more. Phil

Neville’s call for a six-month boycott

by footballers would be one response,

but that is unlikely because of the

commercial pressures to promote their

sponsors on their social media outlets.

In any case, such a stance would

punish the vast majority of decent fans

who, for some reason, enjoy the banal

faux-interaction with their heroes.

What needs to be done is to stop the

racist trolls at source. The answer to

that is to strip away their cloak of

anonymity. A requirement for every

user to register for an account with

their real name and national insurance

number would bring everyone out into

the light.

The racists may still think the same

way, they may still type their bile but

the knowledge that they would be

guaranteed consequences for their

actions would give them pause for

thought before pressing send.

If they went ahead and spread their

poison, they would be permanently

banned and lose their voice forever.

It is not just the football world which

would be better for that.

ON THE SPOT: Pogba’s kick is saved

the summer, but to suggest Hudson-Odoi is

ready to step straight in after a serious

Achilles injury and single-handedly turn a

bottom-six position into a top-six one is

unreasonable.

Of more significance as Chelsea seek their

first competitive win under new manager

Frank Lampard is the availability of Antonio

Rudiger. A little defensive steel is worth a lot

of attacking flair in the situation the Blues

HUDSON-ODOI: Return from injury find themselves in.

CALLUM HUDSON-ODOI’S imminent return

to fitness is being flagged in some quarters

as the belated launch point for Chelsea’s

season.

An England international already, the

forward is a very exciting prospect but

the fact remains that he is just 18 years old.

Don’t heap too much weight on those young

shoulders.

Chelsea need someone to fill the void left

by Eden Hazard’s departure to Real Madrid in

Callum cannot do it alone

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