We can all accept that football stirs the passions of most supporters up and down the country and having played the game professionally for 16 years in Scotland and England, it would be fair to say I have experienced different degrees of abuse from fans. It’s just something that I, and every teammate of mine, expected. But in recent years, there’s no doubt the abuse in football surrounding those involved in the game has intensified. Players, managers, coaches, referees and owners are all on the receiving end to a degree that’s completely unacceptable. Let’s take a look at a few examples.
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Abuse in Football: Referees, Players, Managers and Families All Suffer
Michael Oliver Abused Over Debatable Red Card
Referee Michael Oliver made a debatable call when taking charge of Wolves vs Arsenal recently, sending off Myles Lewis-Skelly shortly before half-time. But the reaction to his controversial decision has been horrific. Death threats, threats to his partner and child and threats to make his home address public on social media sparked this response from the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited): “We are appalled by the threats and abuse directed at Michael Oliver following the Wolves v Arsenal fixture. No official should be subject to any form of abuse, let alone the abhorrent attacks aimed at Michael and his family.”
Players Often Subjected to Abuse
With the explosion of social media activity over the years, players have constantly been on the receiving end of persecution and hatred for trying their best but making a mistake. Who can forget the outrageous abuse aimed at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after they missed penalties in the Euro 2020 final shoot-out with Italy at Wembley. Incredibly, so much of it came from so-called England fans. Five years ago this happened but abuse of this sort still very prevalent today.
Managers Feel the Heat Too
Former Oxford United boss Karl Robinson has spoken of how his mother had to leave the ground due to the volume of abuse he was taking and mentioned how it affected other family members. “My daughter got constant criticism on Instagram and had some horrendous things said to her. We get paid to take criticism, but our families don’t get paid to listen to that. Is it part of modern-day society? It may just be nowadays.”
Robinson, now in his role as manager of League Two side Salford City, has been offering his support to on-loan Derby County player Tyrese Fornah who was subjected to racist abuse on Instagram. He was sent off recently against Newport County and immediately targeted. So many players suffer the same experience.
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Motherwell Manager Abused by Own Supporters
We can all accept the tribal nature of football but what are we to make of Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell’s decision to resign due to the abuse he and his family were listening to from the clubs own supporters at every game, home and away? For a club with modest resources, Motherwell are sitting in the top half of the table and challenging for a place in Europe. But Kettlewell has felt the need to resign due to the personal abuse he was taking which forced his family to stay away from matches. This from a manager who signed Theo Bair on a free transfer and after one full season, the club were able to sell him for £1.6million. A remarkable piece of business at any level.
Motherwell are a club close to my heart having given me the chance to start my career there. In recent years, it’s become a fan-owned club, the Well Society being the majority shareholder. It’s hardly a good look having your own supporters drive a manager away from his job.
Spurs Boss Taken Aback
Ange Postecoglu is going through a tough time as manager of Tottenham Hotspur but even he was taken aback at the abuse directed towards him in the recent FA Cup match against Tamworth. He described it as “vile and detestable”. In what was a terrific cup tie in front of a sold-out crowd of just over three thousand, it’s only a small number who choose to behave this way but very little is done about it.
I go to football games on a weekly basis in Scotland and England and the abuse of referees, players and managers is very much the norm. Offensive chanting is also to be expected but clubs choose to ignore it or do very little about it. The reason must be that they would prefer to take their money rather than send a message that some forms of behaviour are simply unacceptable.
