Brentford has condemned the “spineless, racist abuse” directed at striker Ivan Toney online following Tuesday's game against Birmingham City. The 25-year-old also suffered racist abuse on Instagram in January, with social media firm Facebook deleting an account.
“We are appalled to see yet more spineless, racist abuse directed at Ivan Toney on Instagram ...,” Brentford tweeted after Tuesday's Championship (second tier) game, which ended 0-0. “This has to stop. Now. We stand with Ivan, and all those who continue to suffer abuse online.”
English football's governing bodies have urged social media companies to tackle the problem in the wake of racist messages aimed at players.
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Instagram has announced a series of measures while Twitter has promised to continue its efforts after taking action on more than 700 cases of abuse related to football in Britain in 2019.
Brentford is no longer taking the knee as an anti-racism gesture before games, with Toney telling Sky Sports in February that players were being used as “puppets.”
“We have had a long discussion about that ... why we're not taking a knee,” Toney had said. “... Everyone agrees we've been taking the knee for however long and still nothing has changed. We're kind of being used as puppets, in my eyes; take the knee and the people at the top can rest for a while now, which is pretty silly and pretty pointless. Nothing is changing.”
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