Arsenal condemn racist abuse of Willian and vow zero tolerance approach for any membership holders involved

Willian: “Something needs to change! The fight against racism continues.”
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Arsenal have condemned the racist abuse suffered by their forward Willian on social media and have vowed to ban anybody with a club membership who acts in such a way.

Willian is the latest footballer to be targeted on social media after revealing the racist abuse he suffered on Friday.

The Brazilian screenshotted evidence of the abuse and posted it on his Instagram story along with the caption: “Something needs to change! The fight against racism continues.”

An Arsenal spokesperson said: “This is another depressing example of what is sadly happening to our players and many others on a regular basis.

“Social media is one of the ways our supporters across the world can feel closer to the club and our players, but across football and beyond we’ve seen an online world poisoned by hateful, racist and discriminatory words.

“As our chief executive Vinai Venkatesham said only yesterday, we cannot underestimate the impact abuse has on individuals and the recent spate of abuse needs to be a wake-up call. We all need to work together to drive this behaviour out.

“This includes clubs, governing bodies, fans, media and politicians; but requires the help and commitment of social media companies.

“Through Arsenal for Everyone we strive to ensure that everyone connected to the club feels an equal sense of belonging.

“We will continue to celebrate our diversity and use our platforms to educate others and continue our zero-tolerance approach to discrimination.

“We commit to using our voice and network to strengthen measures and action taken by relevant authorities to punish those responsible for this abuse which affects us all.

“Where any individual is found to have an Arsenal membership, they will be banned. We cannot and will not let racist and hateful abuse become a normalised part of the game.”

Willian is the latest footballer to be racially abused on social media, with the likes of Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford also being targeted.

They are not alone, however, and several footballers have been abused in recent weeks and people are calling upon social media companies to act.

Indeed, England’s football bodies united earlier this month demanding for social media companies to do more in the fight against racism.

Arsenal have often been vocal in the need for change, with Venkatesham speaking out on the issue on Thursday.

Speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football summit, Venkatesham said: “The abuse of so many of our black footballers on social channels is probably and possibly the biggest problem we have in the game at the moment.

“Footballers, referees and officials are all human beings and have feelings like anybody else, and we really cannot underestimate the impact that social media abuse can have on an individual.

“Football, the players, and social media companies need to come together to solve this because this is a moment in time.

“If we don’t make positive progress I really, really worry about the path we are heading on.”

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