Portsmouth hero Jamal Lowe speaks out after facing vile racist abuse as ex-Wigan Athletic man takes stand at Swansea City

Jamal Lowe has called for football and social media sites to take action after being subjected to racial abuse.
Jamal LoweJamal Lowe
Jamal Lowe

The former Pompey winger has spoken out after being the victim of online racial abuse on Instagram following Swansea’s 1-0 defeat at Birmingham last week.

Lowe was the third member of his team to face the vile taunts in as a seven-week period, prompting the Swans to take action and begin a week long social-media blackout in an effort to pressure the likes of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to take affirmative action to stop the cancer of racism on their platforms.

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He told Sky Sports: ‘Hopefully it creates enough noise to reach the platforms, so the people in charge can do something.

‘Some of the abuse we’re getting is from 12-year-old kids, so for that knowledge to drip through to them and their parents maybe they can pass on the education side of it and show them right from wrong.

‘It’s 2021 and it’s happening week-in, week-out whether it’s in the Swansea team as it has been recently, it’s in the media all the time.

‘It’s a sad thing we’re still receiving this type of abuse. We’re not shocked or stunned about it.

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‘We say to keep our heads and not let anyone rile you up, don’t rise or react to it.

‘But it comes to a stage that if we don’t do something, the powers that be have to something whether that’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or whatever the platform you’re receiving this.

‘There should be a verified account, so people can be held accountable. At the minute no one knows who’s abusing any of us.

‘If you’ve got an Instagram account or whateverm when you sign up you should put your email address and your and national insurance, passport or drivers’ licence number in. Something that can verify you as a person and can be linked back to who you are, and not just a page you’ve created in five minutes, sent some abuse and deleted it.

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‘That’s a never-ending story that the page has been deleted and we can’t trace this person, we can’t see who it really is.’

Championship side Birmingham were quick to follow Swansea’s lead in staging their own blackout protest on social media, and both the Premier League and EFL are to next week discuss taking similar steps themselves.

Lowe believes the onus is on football clubs and the game’s key stakeholders to take a stand and stamp out the cases of racism being seen.

He added: ‘I think other clubs should do something, whether it’s a blackout or helping the platforms to search for people, or making their fanbase sign up to a certain page so they know who everyone is.

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‘If you get a season-ticket you know exactly who that person is, you get bank details and all that stuff.

‘So make it more regimented so everyone knows who everyone is and people can’t hide behind a fake name or profile.

‘All clubs are probably trying to do something because it’s not just Swansea who are receiving abuse. I saw a case at Brentford the other night, there’s cases in the Premier League and Rangers not so long ago.

‘It’s everywhere, so everyone in football needs to pull together and try to eradicate the problem.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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