Football: Women’s Euro 25 England Racist Abuse Update
By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
The Head of Sport England has now weighed in on this issue.
Chris Boardman has written to Ofcom, the communications industry regulator, to express his “deep concern regarding the recent wave of racist and sexist abuse" directed at the England women's football team on social media.
And he added:
“This behaviour is abhorrent and unacceptable in any context, but it is especially disheartening given the progress we have made in championing women and girls in sport. Through Sport England and National Lottery investment, we have committed hundreds of millions of pounds to increase participation, visibility and opportunity for women and girls in sport."
In October 2023, the Online Safety Act became law and provides that social media platforms have a duty to protect users from content such as racism, with Ofcom responsible for enforcing the legislation, and developing codes of practice to guide tech companies.
However, some anti-racism campaigners believe that there needs to be more urgency.
Jessica Zucker, the Online Safety Director of Ofcom, stated:
"No-one should have to put up with this kind of vile abuse.”
And she added:
"The UK's new online safety laws mean tech firms must now take action when they know someone's broken the law on their platform. When all the rules are fully in force, the largest social media sites will also have to give users more power to filter out anything that isn't illegal. And we've set out ways online services should go further to tackle misogyny and pile-ons that are targeted at women.”
Lisa Nandy, the UK Culture Secretary, remarked that social media companies and Ofcom "need to do more and it's incumbent on those such as Ofcom and social media platforms to be proactive in rooting this out.”
And she added:
"We brought in the Online Harms Act this year to make sure there are sanctions for companies that don't take this content down and we are doing a lot of work in schools to educate young people about the impact of online abuse but it's incumbent on all of us to call this out.”
A recent poll of 2,000 British adults showed that 52% believe that online sexism is putting girls off engaging with football.
A sad state of affairs that needs arresting without delay!
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
