Huge surge in online hate crimes targeting footballers revealed

Suspected online hate crimes referred to police have quadrupled already this season in English football, Sky News can reveal.

And we have learned that the football policing unit has urged the government to form a new unit to address racism in the sport.

We have also uncovered new details about the police investigation into the hate received by England star Jess Carter, who revealed to me after the Euros final win that the abuse nearly forced her to stop playing at the tournament.

But the scale of racism facing footballers is highlighted by the abuse received by Kira Rai - a British Sikh Punjabi - after signing for Peterborough United last month.

They play in the fourth tier, far from the spotlight of the Women's Super League, but that does not limit the venom targeted at Rai on social media.

She told Sky News: "There were some racial slurs about my heritage, where I come from, that I don't belong in this country, that I should go back to X country and just sorts of things along those lines.

"I think that's probably quite difficult to read about yourself at the end of the day.

"It should be a moment for me to celebrate, I've just joined a new club."

What an impact she has made at her new club, scoring an incredible five-minute hat-trick in the FA Cup on Sunday on her home debut.

But the joy is tinged with sadness when we meet the next day.

'A reflection of society'

"I've been in football since I was six, so for people to question whether I belong in football purely based on the colour of my skin, I think is something that's really difficult to get your head round," she said.

"It's probably a reflection of what's going on in society right now and how prevalent racism has become, and I think football is quite clearly a reflection on society.

"In society, over the last weeks, months, I think there's almost an underlying tension that's perhaps not been there in recent years."

'Depressing' rise in racism

This is felt by the police unit that has overseen football issues for the last two decades, with racism in stadiums and online rising.

Social media is a growing concern, with 170 referrals already this season of online racism compared to 54 in the first three months of the 2022-23 season and 41 in 2023-24.

"We're seeing more reports, which is depressing," Chief Constable Mark Roberts said in an exclusive interview.

"I think we're also seeing that the number of those reports that actually meet the criminal threshold has increased."

It's up to 154 already this season.

Incidents 'creeping back' into stadiums

"There's an awful lot in the political sphere that people are saying that probably a few years ago just wouldn't have been thought of, so I think it taps into that broader societal piece which makes it challenging," the National Police Chiefs Council's football lead added.

"Sadly that seems to have gone backwards a bit. The lower league grounds now, we are seeing incidents creep back into the games which obviously we've got to be really keen to clamp down on and make sure that people face consequences.

"Now whether that's been driven by people being able to say things or feel that they can say things online and that's now leaking into the actual stadiums, there is a definite trend to see more of it."

One of the unit's most high-profile investigations has been into the racism that led Carter to speak out during England's run to Euro 2025 and stepping away for a time from social media.

While two arrests have been announced, Sky News can reveal a third person has been arrested. A fourth suspect has also been identified, and six people overseas are under suspicion.

Carter previously told Sky News: "I wasn't sure I was going to be able to come back on the pitch and be me."

No one has been charged.

'Slippage' with Musk's X

Three cases are pending with Elon Musk's X.

And whether it's X or Meta-owned Instagram, there is no agreement on the "grossly offensive legal threshold" with policies more tolerable than British law.

Mr Roberts said: "There has been some slippage recently with X that we're working with them to try to get back to those standards. And I think one of the factual issues we sometimes struggle with is our perception of what is clearly a criminal offence.

"They can sometimes suggest that it doesn't meet the threshold for their community guidelines, which I find difficult to reconcile really because surely if it meets the criminal prosecution threshold, surely it should breach [their guidelines], and we sometimes have a wrangle about securing information from them."

A challenge is dealing with international police forces with two-thirds of referrals of racism generated overseas, beyond the jurisdiction of the football policing unit.

While not naming particular countries, Mr Roberts said abuse posted from Eastern Europe and Asia is the main problem.

"The level of interest from some countries varies," he said. "Some just aren't interested. We won't get a response. Others will try and take positive action."

The approach of English football can seem somewhat disjointed if different campaigns and anti-racism investigations are run by different parts of the game.

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For Mr Roberts, that could ideally be enhanced.

"I would like a joint function to tackle online hate with ourselves, the football bodies, Kick It Out and others, ideally supported by government, so that we can do it in a really coherent, joined-up way," he said in our interview at Cheshire Police HQ.

"I think that would make a massive difference, whether it's education, whether in-stadium hate, whether it's online hate.

"The way we're going to tackle this most effectively is by doing it in a joined-up way where we're mutually supportive. So I think that's something we'd be keen to pursue."

So would those who have been the target of abuse just for doing what they love - playing football.

'No one wants to talk about this'

Kira Rai, a role model for British South Asians in football, said: "Perhaps there needs to be an overhaul, everyone needs to come together and actually deal with these uncomfortable conversations because they're not necessarily fun conversations that we have.

"No one really wants to talk about this, and I can understand why. For real change, for genuine change to actually occur, you have to have these difficult conversations.

"You have to listen to player stories, to fan stories, to anyone's stories in football, in society, to actually get to the bottom of it."

And as some players showed last weekend in the Women's Super League, change does not come by taking a knee, but taking a stand.

(c) Sky News 2025: Huge surge in online hate crimes targeting footballers revealed