Birmingham striker Troy Deeney revealed that he gets up to 40 racist messages per week online. He has called upon his fellow footballers to report any racism they face to the authorities. Deeney hopes that the number of cases will make it impossible for the government and social media companies to ignore. The striker was attending a special event at the Birmingham training ground where the first football hate crime officer was unveiled. The officer presented exactly how footballers can report any incidents that might occur.
“Whether it’s a picture of me, my wife, the kids – there are no limits to people’s anger,” Birmingham striker Troy Deeney said. “I’m a marmite individual, some people love me, some people don’t. You can talk about my football as much as you want – I just don’t understand why you have to talk about the colour of my skin or try to make me feel less for being an individual of colour.”
“When you’re a young player you’re not aware of the amount of support you have,” Deeney added,” he added. “In football, you’re made to feel like your superhuman – ‘I’m big, I’m strong – so you never want to be labelled as a victim. You don’t want to feel like you’re a victim or you’re complaining because that’s classed as weak so it’s about breaking down barriers and understanding that going to speak to a player liaison officer or your agent doesn’t mean that you’re weak, it just means that you’re probably stopping somebody else from feeling that pain you’re currently feeling.”
