English Football Heads Ask Zuckerberg, Dorsey to Act on Racism

In this Sept. 20, 2020 file photo, a detailed view of the "No room for racism" badge on the shirt of Newcastle United's Callum Wilson during the Premier League match against Brighton at St. James' Park in Newcastle, England. (AP)
In this Sept. 20, 2020 file photo, a detailed view of the "No room for racism" badge on the shirt of Newcastle United's Callum Wilson during the Premier League match against Brighton at St. James' Park in Newcastle, England. (AP)
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English Football Heads Ask Zuckerberg, Dorsey to Act on Racism

In this Sept. 20, 2020 file photo, a detailed view of the "No room for racism" badge on the shirt of Newcastle United's Callum Wilson during the Premier League match against Brighton at St. James' Park in Newcastle, England. (AP)
In this Sept. 20, 2020 file photo, a detailed view of the "No room for racism" badge on the shirt of Newcastle United's Callum Wilson during the Premier League match against Brighton at St. James' Park in Newcastle, England. (AP)

The leaders of English football asked the heads of Facebook and Twitter on Thursday to show “basic human decency” by taking more robust action to eradicate racism and for users' identities to be verified.

There has been growing outrage that players from the Premier League to the Women's Super League have been targeted with abuse on Twitter and Facebook-owned Instagram.

“The language used is debasing, often threatening and illegal,” the eight English football leaders, including from the Football Association and Premier League, wrote to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook chairman Mark Zuckerberg.

“It causes distress to the recipients and the vast majority of people who abhor racism, sexism and discrimination of any kind.

“We have had many meetings with your executives over the years but the reality is your platforms remain havens for abuse. Your inaction has created the belief in the minds of the anonymous perpetrators that they are beyond reach.”

Racism has been targeted online at Manchester United players Marcus Rashford, Axel Tuanzebe, Anthony Martial and Lauren James in recent weeks as well as counterparts from other clubs.

“As recent weeks have seen the levels of vicious, offensive abuse from users of your services aimed at footballers and match officials rise even further, we write to ask that for reasons of basic human decency you use the power of your global systems to bring this to an end,” the letter to Dorsey and Zuckerberg continued.

While Instagram said on Wednesday that it would disable accounts that send racism on direct messages, the company later acknowledged that only an unspecified number of repeated abusive messages would lead to a ban.

The football officials wrote, “The targets of abuse should be offered basic protections, and we ask that you accept responsibility for preventing abuse from appearing on your platforms and go further than you have promised to do to date.”

The officials ask for messages to be filtered and those containing racist and discriminatory material be blocked from being posted. They also want an improved verification process that ensures users provide accurate identification information and are barred from registering if banned.

“Many footballers in English football receive illegal abuse from accounts all over the world and your companies have the power to bring this to an end,” the letter states.

The letter was signed by the CEOs of the English Football Association (Mark Bullingham), Premier League (Richard Masters), English Football League (Trevor Birch), Professional Footballers’ Association (Gordon Taylor) and League Managers’ Association (Richard Bevan). It was also signed by the managing director of the referees' body (Mike Riley), the chairman of the anti-racism group Kick It Out (Sanjay Bhandari) and the FA director of the women’s professional game (Kelly Simmons).

“We call for meetings with your organizations to discuss the evidence of abuse on your platforms, the action you are taking, and how you plan to directly address the matters outlined in this letter,” they wrote to Dorsey and Zuckerberg.

Threats of violence on social media have also alarmed English football this week.

Newcastle manager Steve Bruce said he was informed of people wishing him dead on social media.

“When I see the nature of some of it, it’s totally and utterly vile,” Bruce said. “Some of the stuff I’ve had has been obscene. You feel the hatred and something has to be done.”

Premier League referee Mike Dean went to the police this week after receiving death threats sent to family social media accounts following red cards he showed to players in matches.

“The abuse I’ve had, death threats and all this sort of stuff,” Bruce said, “when I see the referee become a target for it because he has made a mistake, people threatening his life, it’s absolutely obscene and totally ridiculous.”

Facebook and Twitter provided no specific actions on Thursday to address the concerns raised by the football leaders.

“We don’t want hate and racism on our platforms and remove it when we find it,” Facebook’s London media office said in a statement.

Twitter also said it would continue working with organizations like Kick It Out.

“There is no room for racist abuse on Twitter and we are resolute in our commitment to ensure the football conversation on our service is safe for fans, players and everyone involved in the game,” Twitter said in a statement.



Paris Saint-Germain Looks to Clinch a Record-extending 13th French League Title

(FILES) A photograph taken on November 23, 2020 shows a logo of Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, on the eve of the UEFA Champions League Group H football match between Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)
(FILES) A photograph taken on November 23, 2020 shows a logo of Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, on the eve of the UEFA Champions League Group H football match between Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)
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Paris Saint-Germain Looks to Clinch a Record-extending 13th French League Title

(FILES) A photograph taken on November 23, 2020 shows a logo of Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, on the eve of the UEFA Champions League Group H football match between Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)
(FILES) A photograph taken on November 23, 2020 shows a logo of Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, on the eve of the UEFA Champions League Group H football match between Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)

The one-sided Ligue 1 title race could end on Saturday, with Paris Saint-Germain needing only a draw at home against Angers to clinch a record-extending 13th crown.

PSG's massive 21-point lead means it would have to lose the next seven games and Monaco win them all to overtake the Parisians, who are unbeaten in 27 league games, the Associated Press said.

PSG could finish the league campaign unbeaten, although coach Luis Enrique's side still has to play Nice and has a tricky match away to Strasbourg, with both opponents locked in a tight battle to qualify for next season's Champions League.

This season's Champions League, too, is in Luis Enrique’s thoughts.

Good time to rest players? With a quarterfinal first-leg match against Aston Villa coming up in Paris on Wednesday, PSG can afford to rest several key players against Angers. Coach Alexandre Dujeux's side is 14th and has lost four straight league games without scoring a goal, conceding 11.

However, Enrique is not fond of squad rotation so may field close to a full-strength team at Parc des Princes.

How can PSG lose a game? It is hard to see how, given that PSG has not dropped any points since a 1-1 draw at home to Reims on Jan. 25, winning eight straight games.

A glimmer of hope for PSG's remaining opponents is that the team starts slowly and is prone to conceding early goals.

PSG fell behind early against Saint-Etienne last weekend, and it trailed 2-0 within 27 minutes to second-tier Dunkerque in the French Cup semifinal on Tuesday. PSG ended up winning both matches and scoring 10 goals in the process, but there is still a significant weakness against set-pieces and crosses.

Rosenior makes his mark One of the biggest success stories this season has been Strasbourg's remarkable rise to sixth place under English coach Liam Rosenior.

Even more so considering it is his first season, and that he had only two weeks of preseason preparation with his new players.

Led by striker Emanuel Emegha (12 goals), the Alsace-based side has lost only once in the past 14 league games to join the chase for a Champions League spot.

Rosenior's team is on a four-game winning run heading into Sunday’s trip to play relegation-threatened Reims. It is one point behind fourth-place Nice and three behind third-place Marseille, with the top four qualifying.

“I will never stop my players dreaming,” Rosenior said about making the Champions League. “Of course it's possible.”

He'll find out soon enough.

Strasbourg has back-to-back games against Nice and Monaco this month and, with the race so tight, may need to beat PSG on May 4.

Marseille is in a slump Marseille coach Roberto De Zerbi was fuming with his players after last Saturday's 3-1 loss at struggling Reims.

So was midfielder Adrien Rabiot, who questioned the attitude of his teammates.

With good reason, as Marseille's third straight defeat allowed Monaco to move into second place.

But De Zerbi may want to look a bit deeper. Perhaps he should not have allowed his players to get so carried away when, after beating Lyon 3-2 in February, they embarked on a lap of honor and posed for a giant team photo as if they'd won a trophy.

Marseille has lost four out of seven games since. Fans will be looking for a home win against Toulouse on Sunday.