Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku has called for footballers to hold a summit with social media companies to continue the fight against racism and online abuse.
The strength of social media has grown over recent years, which has led to a host of footballers in the men’s and women’s game exposed to threats online.
Romelu Lukaku Calls For Online Abuse Summit Between Players and Social Media CEOs
Lukaku Urges Stakeholders to Take Action on Abuse
In an exclusive interview with CNN, Lukaku expressed his desire for the top players in England to meet with social media CEOs and relevant stakeholders to collectively discuss what more can be done to stamp out the ongoing issue of online abuse.
“The captains of every team, and four or five players, like the big personalities of every team, should have a meeting with the CEOs of Instagram and governments and the FA and the PFA, and we should just sit around the table and have a big meeting about it.
“How we can attack it straight away, not only from the men’s game, but also from the women’s game.
“I think just all of us together and just have a big meeting and have a conference and just talk about stuff that needs to be addressed to protect the players, but also to protect fans and younger players that want to become professional footballers.”
‘Stronger Positions’ Can Be Taken
Lukaku, 28, who made a sensational return to Chelsea during the summer, was also quizzed on the effectiveness of taking the knee before matches.
The Belgian’s teammate Marcos Alonso recently caused a storm by stating his intentions to stop kneeling before kick-off, claiming the gesture against racism is “losing strength”.
The Spaniard reiterated his desire to keep fighting racism and added he will point to the Premier League’s ‘No Room for Racism’ crest on his shirt instead.
A similar stance was taken by Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha, who quickly stopped taking the knee last season after believing the gesture had lost its meaning.
Lukaku added he was sympathetic of those stances, though, with some players still the subjects of mass racial abuse following games.
“I think we can take stronger positions, basically,” he added. “Yeah, we are taking the knee, but in the end, everybody’s clapping but sometimes after the game, you see another insult.”
FA’s Response to Romelu Lukaku
A spokesperson from the Football Association (FA) reached out to CNN to say they had contacted Chelsea to arrange a conversation with Lukaku on the matter.
“We always welcome conversations on this important subject with players and others across the game, and we have reached out to Chelsea directly to arrange a discussion with Romelu should he wish to.”
A similar act has since been conducted by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), who contacted Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta about potentially organising a talk on the issue.
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