Phil SumblerThe UK government has moved to promise to ban people who abuse footballers online from stadiums themselves for up to 10 years in the same way they deal with other football offences.
The move came after more sickening abuse followed after England lost the Euro 2021 final on penalties with Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka all targeted with abuse following their penalty misses.
It has bought back to the fore the increasing problem of abuse coming through online with the Swans own Ben Cabango, Jamal Lowe and Morgan Whittaker all victims themselves last season.
There have been multiple calls on more than one occasion for sterner punishment not just from the law but from social media companies to stamp out this problem and an online petition calling for the FA and the government to ban those who have carried out racist abuse to be banned from football grounds for life has attracted more than one million signatures.
In a statement, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “I was appalled by the abhorrent abuse directed towards a number of our footballers in the aftermath of Sunday’s game. More must be done to prevent people being bullied and trolled online.
“We are also working closely with the football and police authorities to ensure we can track and take action against online abusers and will ban them from football grounds in the same way we would if they had committed these offences on our streets.”
A football banning order is used to prevent someone from attending matches for between three and 10 years.
It can be imposed for offences such as throwing missiles on to the playing area or into the crowd, and racist or indecent chanting at a match.
