Watford captain Deeney targeted with racial abuse online
LONDON (AP) — Watford captain Troy Deeney was targeted with racial abuse on social media after scoring in the FA Cup semifinal win over Wolverhampton.
Deeney's stoppage-time penalty at Wembley Stadium sent the game into extra time, where Watford sealed a 3-2 victory on Sunday.
Deeney posted photos on his Instagram account of his celebrations on the field and later with his family and friends.
Alongside the Premier League's "No room for racism" logo, Deeney wrote on Instagram on Monday that he had been forced to block comments from his posts after receiving abuse from "small minded people" on the platform.
"To me this isn't a game, when you racially abuse my family or myself I have to take measures to prevent young people seeing these comments and thinking that it's acceptable," Deeney wrote.
It follows a weekend when Wigan player Nathan Byrne received racist abuse on Twitter and Derby midfielder Duane Holmes was the victim of abuse at Brentford during a second-tier Championship game.
Last week, Tottenham defender Danny Rose said he was looking forward to retiring from the game because of the ongoing racism problems and inaction by authorities.
Rose was among England players targeted with monkey chants in Montenegro last month while playing in a European Championship qualifier.
England teammate Raheem Sterling, who is also black, said Monday that he was against players walking off pitches if there is racist abuse by opposition fans.
"To win the game would hurt them even more," Sterling said. "They're only trying to get you down. If you walk off they win, to score or win would be better."
