The Belgian Football Association (KBVB) is launching an action against hate speech on social media and Toby Alderweireld (35), among others, is participating. The Antwerp captain was threatened last year via Instagram.
In the middle of the play-offs, after he gave his team the victory against Racing Genk, Alderweireld then received distasteful messages via chat. “This week your daughter is missing,” someone sent him, as well as: “Your family is dying.” The former Red Devil immediately raised this issue and filed a complaint with the police, but now he is also committed to awareness videos, in collaboration with Eleven DAZN.
Toby Alderweireld. — © BELGIUM
“I understand that people can be angry when their favorite club loses, that they send something via social media,” says Alderweireld. “But there are limits. Threatening someone is a bridge too far and we cannot accept it. The perpetrators must realize that they can be sanctioned, they must not feel that they are safe behind their computer. You can be angry, angry, even hate someone. But keep that to yourself.”
Refs also testify
Faris Haroun, who currently coaches Antwerp’s reserves and was also racially treated as a player via social media, also lends his face to the ‘Come Together’ campaign. Just like referees Bram Van Driessche and Marco Matonga Simonini, Standard Fémina player Mariam Toloba, Eleven DAZN face Séverine Parlakou and Mélissa Onana, the sister of Red Devil Amadou. On Wednesday, the KBVB, together with the Pro League and the amateur wings, will also organize the Because We Care conference for the third time, where some of them will testify about (online) racism and discrimination.
Mélissa Onana, the sister of Red Devil Amadou. — © Inge Kinnet
The KBVB has also taken all kinds of measures to combat the phenomenon. On the website cometogether.be, victims are informed how they can adjust their settings on social media to combat hate speech, and how they can report it to the police. All hate comments on our own channels are also automatically deleted – around 1,200 since August.