Aston Villa boss Dean Smith urges all of football to take a stand against racism
Villa boss Dean Smith wants British football to take a stand by making a unilateral boycott of social media to protest at how platforms deal with racist abuse.
Several clubs, including Blues, have announced a week-long boycott to highlight what they believe is a lack of accountability shown by social media sites when it comes to tackling discrimination.
Smith is supportive of those moves but believes they can only be truly effective if everyone in the sport in the UK is involved.
He said: “I listened to Sam Allardyce speak on Thursday and I agree wholeheartedly there should be a unilateral (social media) ban throughout all of football.
“We need to make a stand with this. At the start of Project Restart it was ourselves and Sheffield United who started taking the knee to make a point, one which I believe was well made.
“Change has happened since. We need to do the same again. When all football has a blanket ban on social media then other media companies need to follow and make sure this racism and discrimination of all kinds is eradicated once and for all.”
Albion boss Allardyce called for a unilateral boycott after Baggies forward Callum Robinson, a product of Villa’s academy, received more than 70 vile messages online after last weekend’s 5-2 win at Chelsea.
Current Villa youngster Tyreik Wright has also been targeted while on loan at Walsall. Defender Tyrone Mings recently admitted a football-led social media boycott might be the only way to stamp out abuse.
Smith continued: “For me the UK first and foremost, let us make a stand.
“It seems to be more prevalent in the UK at the moment than anywhere else and let’s hope we can be the ones who set the tone.
“It should be a blanket ban by football in general in the UK, not just one or two clubs going individually, though that is their right to do that and certainly we respect them for doing that.
“But if we want to rid ourselves of the problem we’ve got at the moment then there needs to be a bigger stance.
“Perhaps then the people who are writing these terrible things on social media, it might make them take notice as well.”
Blues, Swansea and Rangers all announced on Thursday players and staff would be staying away from social media for the next week.
Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara this week claimed he suffers racist abuse on social media every day.
