Abstract
Although English football has, to some extent, managed the problem of overt racism in and around live football matches, recent years have seen an increase of football related racist content published on social media. Kick It Out, English football’s main antiracism and discrimination organisation, identified 95,000 discriminatory posts directed at EPL teams, with approximately 39,000 such posts aimed at EPL players. This paper discusses what factors have caused and encouraged the growth of racism online. For example, the nature of communication will be examined as anonymity, invisibility and feelings of privacy work to encourage online hate-speech. The paper will then consider the changes within English football fandom and quantifiably illustrate that overt forms of racism on match-days appear to be decreasing every season. That said, overt forms of racism have by no means disappeared as arguably, social media, and in particular, Twitter, has provided a new platform to spread hate. With the aid of empirical work, I will critically assesses the response of English football’s institutions, organisations and clubs to the problem of racism on social media. The paper aims to highlight key research findings: there are a number of systematic failings undermining or hindering football’s attempts to address this issue including poor co-ordination, a lack of clear guidelines, ad hoc educational provision, a shortage of resources, and a culture of secrecy at many clubs. The paper closes with some recommendations about how these weaknesses may start to be improved and highlights areas for further research.
Presenters
Daniel KilvingtonAssociate Professor, Cultural Studies and Humanities, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Sporting Cultures and Identities
KEYWORDS
Race, Racism, Football, Social Media, Twitter, Hate
