Fulham defender Cyrus Christie has said that he can understand why other footballers do not report the racial abuse they suffer as he believes "nothing gets done" when the issue is flagged up.

The 27-year-old openly revealed to Dapo Abitogun on the Counter Attack Podcast the nature of the abuse he has regularly dealt with.

Christie said that he is frustrated with the lack of appropriate action that is taken by social media organisations when he has personally reported racial abuse that he has suffered with on their respective platforms.

“I’ve had so many things and nothing gets done," Christie said.

Christie can empathise with the many other Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) players and staff within football when they refuse to come forward with with their stories because of the fear of being accused of playing the victim.

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“I can see why no-one mentions it [the abuse they suffer] because they get some backlash," the 27-year-old added.

The Republic of Ireland international gave an example of the scale of the issue on social media.

“I had a thing where out of 15 posts on Instagram, five comments, minimum, were racist," Christie admitted.

He also claimed that a Twitter user also started a petition to have him "lynched" and that at one stage after every game he played, he was reading racist comments about himself online.

Christie was also in the headlines back in August 2019, as he claimed via Twitter that his sister was allegedly physically assaulted and racially abused during Fulham's 1-0 defeat to Barnsley.

He wrote: "To the Fulham fan that decided to hit my sister at the game today and his wife who justified his action with racist remarks I hope your proud of yourself and feel like a big man. You’ll get what’s coming to you."

The Verdict

Christie has laid bare for all to see the scale of the racial abuse that footballers up and down the country have to face on a daily basis.

Social media can be used anonymously, which greatly increases the prevalence of such cases. However, with no action taken by those platforms, the problem will only continue to get worse.

It is damning that players and staff who are victims feel reluctant to report it.