Sports
Spurs star, Gareth Bale willing to disable social media over abuse of footballers
Wales forward Gareth Bale says he is willing to disable social media to tackle online abuse after Rabbi Matondo and Ben Cabango were racially abused on Saturday.
Wales forward Gareth Bale says he is willing to disable social media to tackle online abuse after Rabbi Matondo and Ben Cabango were racially abused on Saturday. Both players Ben Cabango and Rabbi Matondo were racially abused on Instagram after Wales’ 1-0 win over Mexico on Saturday.
Recall that former Arsenal and France striker Thierry Henry has said he is removing himself from social media because of racism and bullying.
Bale, who is on loan at Tottenham from Real Madrid, has been subjected to abuse on social media for much of his career and tends to stay away from the various platforms as a result.
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His Wales team-mate Matondo criticised Instagram on Sunday, while the Football Association of Wales (FAW) says it is “disgusted by the racial abuse”.
“I’ve had a lot of bad things said to me on social media, but I’m sure if they [Matondo and Cabango] wanted to come to me for advice they know where they are,” said Bale.
“We’ve had a brief chat, I haven’t gone into too many details. They’ve spoken with representatives of the FAW and we know obviously it’s in the hands of the police and an ongoing investigation.
“From my point of view, I try to stay off it because there are so many toxic people trying to say negative things and put you down.
“It’s nice to be able to share what we do and how we do things, pictures of training and what we’re enjoying doing.
“But looking at those comments sometimes it’s best to stay away from it, share what you want to share and don’t read too much into the comments because there are some horrible people out there.”
“It wasn’t nice to wake up on Sunday to hear these things,” Bale said. “Ben, Rabbi and anyone else know we are here to support them, we are behind them and if they need to talk to us at all we are here.
However, Bale advised that social media companies should request a passport from users before approving them. This, however, one will be able curb and trace
them down and hold them accountable.
“It’s very disappointing and something needs to happen in terms of the social media companies. To get an account, you need to put your passport in.
“I think that will stop people saying things because then you will be able to trace them down and hold them accountable.”