EFL players left 'numb' by increase in online abuse

The EFL said that there were more than 5,000 incidents of online abuse towards players last season

Online abuse towards footballers in the EFL has doubled in the past two seasons with players becoming "numb" to it.

According to figures released by the EFL for the 2024-25 season, there were more than 5,000 incidents of online abuse with about 900 players being targeted.

The EFL - which is hosting its Together Against Racism campaign this week - has its own monitoring platform for online attacks, Athletia, and said cases have risen sharply with social media companies failing to deal with them quickly enough.

"In the last two seasons we've seen quite a visibly massive increase, around the 100 per cent mark," said EFL director of equality, diversity and inclusion David McArdle.

"What's really sad in terms of the players is they've seen it before, when it happens to a player it's not new to them. They become a bit numb to it, and that's a bad place for the players to feel that way.

"The platforms do need to do better in terms of challenging some of this behaviour, stopping people from posting in the first place, then helping us in the removal of those of those messages and images.

"The messages are staying up which is worrying, and the players are continuously seeing the message reappear on the timelines on multiple occasions for whatever reason. Then more people across society see those messages as well and then think it's normalised.

"We need to remove that normalisation of the words, of the phrases, of the images and of the emojis being used."

According to the EFL, 17 fans were banned from their clubs and a further 24 faced police convictions for racist abuse at EFL stadiums last season.

Another 26 were referred for restorative justice (allowing people affected by crime to communicate with the person responsible), and there are more than 80 cases still under investigation.

There were also 141 incidents of racist abuse at grounds, and last week the League One game between Exeter City and Reading was stopped for a short time after a report of a racist comment towards an Exeter player by a visiting supporter, but online attacks remain the biggest problem.

McArdle added: "In a pub, if you drink too much, the bar staff will throw you out because you become inappropriate. On social media, there's nobody throwing you out.

"You can say what you want, you can behave the way you want. There's no repercussions or very little repercussions. That's where we need the social media companies to support us on the journey."

'You don't want to be talking about me as a pioneer'

Darren Moore has taken charge of 366 games during his managerial career

The Premier League are also holding their No Room For Racism match rounds, which conclude this weekend, with players taking a knee before games.

Port Vale boss Darren Moore is part of the league's Black Participants Advisory Group which looks to guide coaches from minority backgrounds through their careers.

Along with Moore, West Ham United's Nuno Espirito Santo, Blackburn Rovers' Valerien Ismael and Lee Grant at Huddersfield Town are the only black managers in the top four divisions.

"I look at myself and in the role - and hopefully I'm looked upon as somebody that is a representation of all British managers," Moore, the former West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield Wednesday boss said.

"That's what you want it to get to. You want to push it towards that. You don't want to be talking about me as a pioneer. You want it to be people looking at leadership and it's a representation of all managers.

"That's the bit I work towards. At the same time, if I'm looked upon as a mentor and good representation, then that's great as well."

The Premier League's Professional Player to Coach Scheme [PPCS] and the Coach Inclusion and Diversity Scheme [CIDS] have supported 100 coaches, and 91% are in full-time employment.

The PPCS is a joint programme between the Premier League, EFL and Professional Footballers' Association and aims to support former players from Black, Asian and mixed heritage backgrounds who have an ambition to coach at Premier League and EFL clubs.

The CIDS supports coaches from Black, Asian and mixed heritage backgrounds by providing employment and training opportunities within Premier League and EFL academies.

"When you look at the pyramid of football, there are a lot when you go through the leagues and look at assistant coaches, first-team coaches - they are there," Moore added.

"If you look in the Premier League, Nuno is there but Kolo Toure is [an assistant] at Man City, [assistant] Justin Cochrane is at Tottenham."