Anthony Elanga targeted with racist abuse

Dargonk

Ninja Scout
Scout
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
18,755
Location
Australia
Unsurprising really, which is a real shame. Hopefully as part of his United education the club has already prepared him for these type of situations. I really don't understand it either, as its not like he missed on purpose. I can at least understand abusing someone for not trying, but a one off mistake? First thoughts should be to rally around them and give them confidence to nail it next time.
 

ROFLUTION

Full Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2009
Messages
7,619
Location
Denmark
I think there is more to it than just random racist trolls abusing elanga.

It's just too predictable to the point that I believe these are either media outlet or state backed professional trolls
I've said the same. It's every time at every club a black player misses a pen and it's quite predictable but rarely with real life documentation but enough to create headlines.

Considering twitter has millions of bots (25 million pr month according to twitter), and also that troll armies are a real thing, it's quite an easy way to divide a country and make a country look bad. I'd like to see a real face on some of this sometimes (for accountability). Racism is a thing that should be dealt with, but surely there must be cases of troll (racist) armies out there too.

Seems illogical and counter intuitive to be racist abusing AND supporting a team with at least 5-8 black people in it week in and week out.
 
Last edited:

Che Guevara

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Aug 29, 2018
Messages
804
Location
Wolverhampton
Supports
Celtic
Against Villareal De Gea missed the crucial penalty but it was Rashford who suffered racist abuse despite scoring his.
 
Last edited:

yipthatman

New Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2021
Messages
712
Find them and give them a public flogging!
I think education is more likely to help these kind of people. I believe this is part of the reason for taking the knee (even though, bizarrely, a lot of people strongly opposed it), to highlight the issue of racism so then people go off and educate themselves. That said, you can't force someone to learn.
 

Che Guevara

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Aug 29, 2018
Messages
804
Location
Wolverhampton
Supports
Celtic
I think education is more likely to help these kind of people. I believe this is part of the reason for taking the knee (even though, bizarrely, a lot of people strongly opposed it), to highlight the issue of racism so then people go off and educate themselves. That said, you can't force someone to learn.
It's not ignorance at all. These idiots deliberately do this precisely because they know how hurtful it is.
 

Chesterlestreet

Man of the crowd
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
19,528
Seems illogical and counter intuitive to be racist abusing AND supporting a team with at least 5-8 black people in it week in and week out.
There is precedent for this sort of thing - but I really don't think United have a lot of racist fans who are just waiting for an opportunity to abuse our own players.

(That doesn't mean we don't have any racist fans - but it seems undeniable at this point that racially abusing football players after penalty shootouts has become a "thing" for pure trolls and/or kids trying to be "edgy").
 

Cloud7

Full Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Messages
12,832
There is precedent for this sort of thing - but I really don't think United have a lot of racist fans who are just waiting for an opportunity to abuse our own players.

(That doesn't mean we don't have any racist fans - but it seems undeniable at this point that racially abusing football players after penalty shootouts has become a "thing" for pure trolls and/or kids trying to be "edgy").
We have a lot of fans. By most metrics we have at least in the top three most fans in the world. There are also a lot of racist people in the world, and perhaps more racist people than we would have thought were still kicking around. Just by looking at those two things you would have to guess that we do have a lot of racist fans bouncing around. Hell, we have a lot of racist fans on here who end up outing themselves once they're in the right thread and are given the opportunity to do so.
 

Chesterlestreet

Man of the crowd
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
19,528
We have a lot of fans. By most metrics we have at least in the top three most fans in the world. There are also a lot of racist people in the world, and perhaps more racist people than we would have thought were still kicking around. Just by looking at those two things you would have to guess that we do have a lot of racist fans bouncing around. Hell, we have a lot of racist fans on here who end up outing themselves once they're in the right thread and are given the opportunity to do so.
Yes, it goes without saying that a club with a huge world wide fan base will have its share of (genuinely) racist fans.

However, this phenomenon (posting abusive shit on social media as an apparent reaction to players missing penalties) seems to be - well - real. IIRC it was established that most of the users who posted abuse after England's Euro shootout were not based in England and most likely not England fans at all. *

It really isn't surprising that trolls (kids, like as not) have jumped on this despicable trend - just look at the response it generates.

* I didn't remember correctly: this was rumoured to be the case but later proved incorrect. What was established was that a lot of abusive posts were made by people who very likely weren't England fans - but the majority of the abusive posts came from users within the UK, so I was wrong about that.
 
Last edited:

Chief123

Full Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2013
Messages
12,787
Manchester United's 19-year-old winger Anthony Elanga was targeted with vile racist abuse after missing a penalty against Middlesbrough on Friday night.

What is wrong with people ?
Unfortunately we live amongst idiots. No level of continuous education will change them from being idiots. The more this gets highlighted in the media, the more ignited these idiots get, thinking they are funny.
 

Bondi77

Full Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2019
Messages
7,308
I think education is more likely to help these kind of people. I believe this is part of the reason for taking the knee (even though, bizarrely, a lot of people strongly opposed it), to highlight the issue of racism so then people go off and educate themselves. That said, you can't force someone to learn.
They are just cowards mate and if they were exposed they would soil themselves with utter fear!
 

RedChisel

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jan 24, 2018
Messages
615
Thicky Tory England strikes again! Such a nasty and shit place to live.
 

Patchbeard

Full Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2013
Messages
2,578
Unfortunately it's to be expected nowadays on unregulated social media so I'm not even remotely shocked, but it's sad to be saying that. Twitter would need to invest millions to either hire enough staff to regulate the platform as best as they could 24/7, or invest millions in technology in order for it to not continue to get worse.
 

Ixion

Full Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2003
Messages
15,275
Why cant companies like Twitter block certain words from appearing on their feed?

Not that they should have to but it's better than this.
They're shit, I reported an account last week because the username was the N word + something and they said it didn't violate any rules. Why can people even use that word on their service.
 

Classical Mechanic

Full Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2014
Messages
35,216
Location
xG Zombie Nation
Yes, it goes without saying that a club with a huge world wide fan base will have its share of (genuinely) racist fans.

However, this phenomenon (posting abusive shit on social media as an apparent reaction to players missing penalties) seems to be - well - real. IIRC it was established that most of the users who posted abuse after England's Euro shootout were not based in England and most likely not England fans at all. *

It really isn't surprising that trolls (kids, like as not) have jumped on this despicable trend - just look at the response it generates.

* I didn't remember correctly: this was rumoured to be the case but later proved incorrect. What was established was that a lot of abusive posts were made by people who very likely weren't England fans - but the majority of the abusive posts came from users within the UK, so I was wrong about that.
Not quite. The majority of racist posts that reached the criminal threshold came from outside the UK but the single biggest country of origin was the UK. 123 from abroad and 34 from the UK. 99% from verified accounts so not trolls or bots.

https://news.sky.com/story/majority...d-99-were-not-anonymous-says-twitter-12377977
 

Judge Red

Don't Call Me Douglas
Joined
Feb 11, 2006
Messages
5,993
As expected as it is now, we should never be indifferent to it. It’s people thinking they’re being funny or clever when they’re being cnuts. It’s not United fans, it’s ABUs thinking racist abuse is an acceptable form of shit stirring.
 

golden_blunder

Site admin. Manchester United fan
Staff
Joined
Jun 1, 2000
Messages
119,974
Location
Dublin, Ireland
Yea but it might stop it happening in the future
It won’t though until real IDs are tied to social media platforms because then they cannot hide behind VPNs etc. there’d be a lot more worried about being caught or linked to work places etc

years ago someone was abusing my live chat team at work. Saying horrible things to the girls. So I checked his account and he was using a school email address. I contacted the school advised what was happening. Turned out to be a pupil. He never contacted us again.
 

giggs-beckham

Clueless
Joined
Sep 9, 2007
Messages
6,963
It won’t though until real IDs are tied to social media platforms because then they cannot hide behind VPNs etc. there’d be a lot more worried about being caught or linked to work places etc

years ago someone was abusing my live chat team at work. Saying horrible things to the girls. So I checked his account and he was using a school email address. I contacted the school advised what was happening. Turned out to be a pupil. He never contacted us again.
This announcement yesterday.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/online-safety-law-to-be-strengthened-to-stamp-out-illegal-content
 

Bestietom

Full Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2013
Messages
8,021
Location
Ireland
Unsurprising really, which is a real shame. Hopefully as part of his United education the club has already prepared him for these type of situations. I really don't understand it either, as its not like he missed on purpose. I can at least understand abusing someone for not trying, but a one off mistake? First thoughts should be to rally around them and give them confidence to nail it next time.
These are sick cowards who have no respect.
 

Big Poppa

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Dec 28, 2021
Messages
18
Supports
Arsenal
Don’t give knobheads on social media the air time. An incredible amount of people are simply there to play the cnuty troll behind the safety of their keyboard and absolutely lap up the people who get offended.
Why anyone thinks it’s worth highlighting or discussion time spent on it blows me away, you’re giving them exactly what they want.
Never understood this kind of take. The discussion is to put pressure on authorities to act and to show the poor kid some support. Surely you can see that.

How does everyone burying their head in the sand help anyone?
 

yipthatman

New Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2021
Messages
712
They are just cowards mate and if they were exposed they would soil themselves with utter fear!
I agree that it's cowardly, I don't think fear is useful. I think people should learn how hurtful their words are. The thing is, you are talking about football fans. They generally don't give a care if they upset someone's feelings where football is concerned. I think this is where the education part comes in. I hear a lot of people promoting violence against such stuff but I don't think punching someone for being racist is any better than being racist. You could argue that it's worse, who knows. Sad all round really. I wonder how much of it was from actual United fans though.
 

Acole9

Outstanding
Joined
Feb 17, 2013
Messages
12,507
Sad to hear but not a surprise. Can't blame the lad for us getting knocked out.
 

Litch

Full Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2013
Messages
10,238
Not surprised, there will be those views held on here too. You think the negative comments about Pogs, Tony and Rashford etc just stem from some peoples view about them as footballers?
 

Jim Beam

Gets aroused by men in low socks
Joined
Feb 10, 2017
Messages
13,077
Location
All over the place
How feckin dumb can you be to blame the kid for anything after that game? Missed penalty can happen to anyone and the game should have been over long before he stepped to take it, so it had to do much more with the players that were in the starting lineup.

To be racially abused over it is just vile and disgusting. I really hope that kid somehow doesn't take it to his heart because he has been one of the rare shining lights in this season shitshow (maybe even the only positive when am looking at it).
 

FoldedFox

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Feb 5, 2022
Messages
23
Unacceptable but not unexpected. Easy for the media to claim it from "their own fans". Hopefully, Anthony will come back stronger from this and he will recognise that proper fans aren't uneducated scumbags.
 

MacGlock88

New Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2021
Messages
344
It’s very disappointing to read, but not surprising.
Ultimately we live amongst thousands of racist and bigoted people. The age of Social Media has amplified them. They can get to their target audience far easier.
 

Ludens the Red

Full Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2009
Messages
17,469
Location
London
Maybe I read it wrong. Sounded like you suggested that nothing can be done about this and it should no longer be called out as a result?
That’s not what I said, I replied to another poster in agreement in that this kind of anonymous online troll abuse should no longer be highlighted and discussed to the degree it is. As it just gives the trolls what they want. And ultimately there aren’t going to be repercussions as these people don’t actually have an identity.
It should obviously still be reported and I’m not implying Elanga should do nothing about it.


Whatever your point it was a terrible one. Ignoring terrible things, not discussing them, doesn't make it go away.
No it wasn’t. Im not saying racism in general shouldn’t be discussed. But there is obviously a difference between anonymous online racist trolling and someone racially abusing someone in the street or institutional racism. It’s clear which one can be tackled and discussed and which can’t. One of those is purely clickbait to make headlines and to divide. And that’s usually what always happens….
 

Ixion

Full Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2003
Messages
15,275
No it wasn’t. Im not saying racism in general shouldn’t be discussed. But there is obviously a difference between anonymous online racist trolling and someone racially abusing someone in the street or institutional racism. It’s clear which one can be tackled and discussed and which can’t. One of those is purely clickbait to make headlines and to divide. And that’s usually what always happens….
When it gets highlighted it leads to things like this:

Euro 2020 racist abuse - 11 people arrested

And some of those have since been charged. Your suggestion is to ignore people like that but I gurantee those charged won't do it again.
 

Ludens the Red

Full Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2009
Messages
17,469
Location
London
When it gets highlighted it leads to things like this:

Euro 2020 racist abuse - 11 people arrested

And some of those have since been charged. Your suggestion is to ignore people like that but I gurantee those charged won't do it again.
“It should obviously still be reported and I’m not implying Elanga should do nothing about it.”
I think You can report and ignore at the same time…

Iirc those charged weren’t anonymous and one in particular had streamed himself from his personal Facebook account. By all means in these cases I completely agree highlight and discuss it to the max. Let social media do it’s thing.

The absolutely overwhelming majority are just alias Instagram accounts though and I just don’t think giving them clout anymore is the best way to deal with them.
 

Random Task

WW Lynchpin
Joined
Feb 7, 2010
Messages
34,503
Location
Chester
Predictable as hell. As soon as he missed and I’d sighed because we were out, my mind immediately turned to the shit I knew would be flung his way. It’s such a shame it’s so expected.
Same.

It was like when Rashford, Sancho and Saka missed their pens in the Euros final. You just knew they'd be in for a rough time on social media that night, the worst kind too. That's the way it is and always will be until the popular social media outlets put a system in place that prevents racial abuse or any form of abuse for that matter. That'll be the day, though.
 

Rhyme Animal

Thinks Di Zerbi is better than Pep.
Joined
Sep 3, 2015
Messages
11,193
Location
Nonchalantly scoring the winner...
I really don't understand it either, as its not like he missed on purpose. I can at least understand abusing someone for not trying, but a one off mistake? First thoughts should be to rally around them and give them confidence to nail it next time.
:eek: In a thread bursting full of shit-takes, you sir win the shit-take cake.

Not surprised, there will be those views held on here too. You think the negative comments about Pogs, Tony and Rashford etc just stem from some peoples view about them as footballers?
Absolutely agree. That kind of thing needs to be called out more and questioned / challenged on here.

We’re living in a country where people voted for Brexit ffs - but let’s just assume that this is just ‘trolls looking for attention’ and stop talking about it, it’s not as if these players are human beings, and it’s not as if human beings experiencing regular prejudice leads to a far worse society for everyone.