James McClean has been publicly praised for speaking out against the racist abuse suffered by Ireland full-back Cyrus Christie in the wake of Ireland's loss to Denmark last Tuesday night.
McClean posted to his Instagram on the morning after the match condemning what he described as abuse 'beyond football' and on Saturday night clarified that he was referring to racist abuse directed at Christie, while speaking at the PFAI awards ceremony.
The Gardai are investigating in co-operation with the FAI, but in the meantime some detective work from You Boys In Green uncovered the Tweets that were sent to Christie after the final whistle at the Aviva Stadium.
Here are the two scumbag accounts who tweeted abuse to Cyrus Chrisie pic.twitter.com/XzdIosH57i
— YBIG (@YouBoysInGreen) November 20, 2017
Whatever they are, they are not Ireland fans. McClean saw the Tweets after an emotional Chirstie had shown them to teammates in the dressing room, and was 100% right to speak up regarding the sub-human behaviour.
Garrett Mullan, Director of 'Show Racism the Red Card' released a statement welcoming the actions of the FAI and, in particular, James McClean for shining a lot on the abuse that is faced by players on social media.
There is no place for racism in sport or on social media.
We welcome the fact that the FAI and Gardaí are taking action but social media outlets also have a role to play in responding to racism.
As important as reporting such vile incidents is the support that someone receives from those around and, in this case, it is clear that Cyrus Christie’s team mates have been affected by this incident.
We welcome the fact that James McClean has shone a light on to some of the nasty elements out there.
His support for his fellow team mate will help the team and Cyrus, in particular, to emerge stronger from this incident.
Thankfully, Irish fans have taken to social media in their droves to offer support to Christie after details of the abuse emerged, so hopefully he can move on from this upsetting with the knowledge that the overwhelming majority of Irish fans are behind him.
McClean has emerged as a real leader in the Irish dressing room over the World Cup qualifying campaign, and he did the right thing in brining this to the public eye.
