'Ian Wright racist abuse wholly unacceptable' Premier League introduce 'rapid response' online reporting system

The central rapid response reporting system will enable players, managers and coaches to notify the Premier League of serious discriminatory abuse received via direct messages on social media platforms. Each case will be reviewed, reported to the relevant social media company, investigated and legal action taken where appropriate. The Premier League has developed the system and will respond to incidents. Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said: “Online discriminatory abuse is unacceptable in any walk of life and tackling this issue must be a priority. There are too many instances of footballers and their families receiving appalling discriminatory messages; nobody should have to deal with this. “Our central reporting system has been developed to provide a rapid response and support for any players, managers and coaches who have been victims of serious online discrimination, whether targeted at themselves or family members. Our commitment is to review each case and to take immediate follow-up action. “We have recently been made aware of the wholly unacceptable online racist abuse received by Ian Wright. The Premier League strongly condemns this deeply offensive behaviour. We immediately implemented our reporting system and will support Ian in any endeavour to bring the offenders to justice. “The Premier League will not tolerate discriminatory behaviour in any form and we, alongside The FA, EFL, PFA and LMA will continue to challenge major social media companies that fail to do enough to block offensive discriminatory material and identify and ban offenders from their platforms. “The Premier League and its clubs will also continue to work with the police, Crown Prosecution Service and Kick It Out to identify and ban offenders from Premier League grounds.” A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton: In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers. With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers. Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis. Stay safe, and best wishes.