7500 to Holte goes dark on social media

The FA, Premier League, EFL, FA Women’s Super League, FA Women’s Championship, PFA, LMA, PGMOL, Kick It Out, Women In Football and the FSA will unite for a social media boycott from the afternoon of Friday 30th April until the night of Monday 3rd May in response to the ongoing and sustained discriminatory abuse received online by players and many others connected to football.

This has been scheduled to take place across a full fixture schedule in the men’s and women’s professional game and will see clubs across the Premier League, EFL, WSL and Women’s Championship switch off their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

In solidarity with the cause, the following SB Nation Soccer Premier League blogs (and one Serie A blog, joining in solidarity) will also be honoring a similar period of silence on their social media accounts:

Arsenal – The Short Fuse
Aston Villa – 7500 to Holte
Everton – Royal Blue Mersey
Fiorentina – Viola Nation
Leicester City – Fosse Posse
Liverpool – The Liverpool Offside
Manchester United – The Busby Babe
Newcastle – Coming Home Newcastle
Tottenham – Cartilage Free Captain

This boycott alone will not stop the stream of hateful commentary that pervades through social media nowadays, but is more of a call to action for all of us as football fans to stand together and stamp this out of the game. We encourage each one of you to take a minute to think about what you, personally, can do to make the game we all love a kinder, more inclusive space and to help drive racism and abuse off social media.

We at 7500 to Holte have devoted ourselves to being a supportive, welcoming community for all since the site began a decade ago. However, we acknowledge we can continue to do more, both by recruiting a more diverse staff, and by taking a stand on social media when we see racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or other abusive tweets when they cross our path.

We stand together against the abuse rampant on social media. We hope you join us. The more voices pushing back against vile, hurtful, nasty, or degrading tweets, the more likely the abusers will begin to stand down.

We thank you for your support.