'Pretty damning' - Steve Bruce shares support for Blackpool winger following racist abuse
CJ Hamilton received racist abuse on social media following Blackpool’s 2-2 draw with Luton Town.
Steve Bruce states CJ Hamilton has Blackpool’s full support after being on the end of racist abuse on social media.
The 30-year-old received the messages on Instagram on the back of the 2-2 draw at Bloomfield Road on Tuesday evening.
A brace from the winger had given the Seasiders a two goal lead, before the Hatters pulled themselves level through a deflected Jordan Clark goal and a Gideon Kodua penalty to share the points.
Reacting to the abuse directed Hamilton’s way, Bruce stated: “CJ is thankfully okay. It’s horrible to say this, but he’s probably heard it before - which is pretty damning.
“The club has handled it the way they should be doing. First of all we should be looking at these social media sites and make them accountable, something has got to be done.
“I’ve said it many times, if you’re fragile, young or up against it, then the worst place you can be is on social media. It’s an awful, awful thing.
“When we see a post like the one CJ had to read, you can only describe them as some moron somewhere. We’ll try to protect all of our players because in instances like that you do wonder what the hell is going on with people who can post something that horrific.
“In the 70s and 80s racism was horrific when I first started. I had the privilege of playing with the first black player to play for England Viv Anderson, and some of the stuff he got when he first started was horrific.
“Thing have moved on for the better in that respect, but social media is something we have to police better. We have to put something in place, not only for football, but in society in general.
“It’s upsetting when you see something posted as horrific as that. CJ will get on with it, but it doesn’t hide the fact it still exists out there. We have to keep on top of it, and if we ever catch the moron who posted it then lock them away.
“Social media has changed a lot, and has a lot to answer for. Thankfully, I’m not on it, so I never go near it. It’s a scourge, and we should be looking at ways of policing it better than we do.
“My message to the players is to ignore it and don’t read it, but I know it’s very difficult in this day and age. My advice would be to stay away from it, because do we ever hear anything good on social media?”
Seasiders ‘appalled’ by racist abuse
Once the comments had been flagged by Hamilton, the club were quick to respond with a statement.
“Blackpool Football Club is appalled to report that a racist message was received by CJ Hamilton last night via social media,” the club wrote.
“This has been reported to the relevant authorities, including the EFL, PFA, Kick It Out and Lancashire Police. The club will do everything possible to identify the individual responsible, and take the strongest possible action.
“Sadly, this is just the latest incident where one of our players has been on the receiving end of vile, racist abuse which has been directly sent to them on social media.
“The club once again calls on social media companies to do more to combat online hate and abuse, and be proactive in finding methods to stop this kind of behaviour taking place on their very own platforms.
“The club stands firmly with CJ, one of our longest-serving players, and will support him in any way we can. There is a zero-tolerance policy for this behaviour throughout the game.”
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