England and Chelsea midfielder Karen Carney says the abuse she received on social media was “abhorrent, totally unacceptable and very upsetting” and hopes nobody has to experience anything like it in the future.
Chelsea men’s head coach Maurizio Sarri joined England Women boss Phil Neville and the Football Association in condemning sickening social media threats directed towards Carney this week.
— Karen Carney MBE (@karenjcarney) October 19, 2018
“This kind of abuse is abhorrent, totally unacceptable and very upsetting,” Carney wrote on Twitter, where she has 54,000 followers.
On Thursday the FA called on the police and social media companies to help shut down online abuse after the posts directed towards Carney, who thanked the national governing body and Chelsea for their intervention.
She added: “It was swiftly reported by the club, as is standard practice. I trust now it will be dealt with by the correct authorities to ensure this doesn’t happen again to either myself or anyone else.
“I would like to thank all those who have offered messages of support, including the fans, media and others within the game.
“I’d also like to thank Chelsea and the FA who were swift to report those responsible to both Instagram and the police.
“I’d now like to concentrate on preparing for our game against Birmingham on Sunday.”
Sarri calls the abuse that Chelsea Women captain Karen Carney received on social media this week 'unacceptable and disgusting'. He praises Carney's ability as a midfielder. #CHEMUN
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) October 19, 2018
Sarri was asked about the issue at his weekly media conference on Friday, and said: “It’s not acceptable. It’s disgusting.”
The 59-year-old admitted he is not familiar with the use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other social media platforms.
But he praised Carney’s footballing ability after her decisive penalty in Chelsea’s Women’s Champions League win over Fiorentina on Wednesday night.
Sarri added: “I watched the last match against Fiorentina. She’s a very good midfielder, I think. She scored.”
It was Neville who highlighted the abuse 133-cap international Carney had received, sharing an Instagram post which wished “cancer, leukaemia and rape” on her.
He shared a further post on Friday directed towards an unnamed England Women international, which included a rape threat and a follow-up message suggesting it was “headline” grabbing.
Neville wrote on Thursday: “A message sent to one of my @lionesses players last night, absolutely disgraceful”. He went on to ask Instagram: “Are you going to do something about it?”
He added on Friday: “Another disgraceful awful despicable message sent to one of my @lionesses – @instagram can you do a better job at protecting my players who use your social media platform!!”
The FA is backing Neville and has demanded action.
[1/3] Statement regarding Karen Carney online abuse: “We are appalled and dismayed by the abuse directed towards Karen Carney on social media. The FA takes such matters extremely seriously and we are offering our full support to Karen.
— FA Spokesperson (@FAspokesperson) October 18, 2018
“We are appalled and dismayed by the abuse directed towards Karen Carney on social media,” the FA said in a statement on Thursday.
“The FA takes such matters extremely seriously and we are offering our full support to Karen. The abuse of players on social networking sites is a serious concern and we call on the police and social media organisations to do everything they can to help tackle this growing problem.
“We provide all our senior England players with training, guidance and support on the use of social media and treat our duty of care in this regard with the utmost importance.”
Instagram removed the account responsible for the first messages as the company does not “tolerate threatening or abusive behaviour”.
