MADRID, 3 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
UEFA will launch on July 6, on the occasion of the Women’s Euro Cup in England, a new ‘Respect’ program, which includes the ‘Real Scars’ campaign to warn of the effects of ‘online’ abuse directed at players of soccer and coaches through social media, educating them on the best way to defend themselves against this type of abuse.
Other pillars of the program include a new platform to “actively monitor, report and remediate online abuse”, as well as the release of an ‘Outraged’ documentary series.
The ‘Respect’ program aims to take concrete action to prevent online abusive behavior and discrimination during all of its final tournaments, including the final matches of the junior, women’s and men’s competitions over the next three years.
To ensure harmful content is removed, UEFA is working directly with major social media platforms such as Twitter, Meta (Instagram and Facebook) and TikTok.
The ‘Real Scars’ campaign is supported by French Olympique Lyonnais player Wendy Renard, Italian Chelsea midfielder Jorginho, and Swiss Aston Villa player Alisha Lehmann.
Renard warned that online abuse can leave “scars”, especially if the people who receive it are “mentally fragile”. “When you say something on social media, you don’t realize how painful it is or the consequences it can have. It can leave a mark because we’re all human, we all have emotions,” he said.
“I think online abuse is much worse than in real life because hundreds of people are saying it. People online are much less brave because they are behind a phone or a computer. In real life they would never tell you this. they would ask: ‘Can I have your shirt?’ or ‘Can I have an autograph?'” Lehmann said. “Online abuse is horrible because people don’t think about what it can cause. It has an effect on you and the people who love you,” Jorginho continued.
UEFA Football Social Responsibility Director Michele Uva stressed that European football’s governing body is already taking “concrete action” to combat abuse. “We are very pleased to launch a specific program at the UEFA Women’s Euro, with the aim of raising awareness, providing education, and monitoring and reporting online abuse at all future UEFA competition finals,” he pointed.
“We cannot accept any form of abuse and discrimination in football. It is time to take concrete action to put an end to online abuse. This is a long-term program whereby we will take advantage of new moderation technology in all key platforms. Shortly, we will also be launching an ‘Outraged’ documentary series, which will focus on raising the spotlight on education to raise awareness of the importance of this issue and prevent abuse from taking place.”
The very shocking campaign video stars Jorginho, Wendy Renard and Alisha Lehmann, who have suffered or witnessed online abuse. The video will be shown online and on the giant screen of all the matches of the Women’s European Championship. The campaign will also appear on perimeter boards and match schedules throughout the tournament.
Other players and coaches, including Crystal Palace FC manager Patrick Vieira; former soccer player and sports journalist Karen Carney; and Jesús Tomillero Benavente, the Spanish referee who retired due to online abuse, appear in a short documentary on online abuse as part of UEFA’s five-part series called ‘Outraged’, which deals with the discrimination and abuse. The documentary will be released midway through the tournament and will be available online on UEFA.tv and through UEFA broadcasters.