[Saba Sports News] According to Dutch media reports, multiple players of the Netherlands national team have received racist abuse on social media. Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville were forced to turn off the comment sections on their Instagram accounts after the Netherlands crashed out of the World Cup. The three players all missed their penalties in the shootout against Morocco. Kluivert, Timber and Summerville took on the responsibility in the penalty shootout but failed to convert their spot kicks, which led to the Netherlands’ early exit from the tournament. Instead of receiving support, Summerville, and especially Kluivert and Timber, were inundated with hateful and outright racist messages. The Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) stated that it would file official reports over these abusive comments. Reports can be submitted to dedicated reporting platforms, which may eventually lead to formal charges being brought by public prosecutors. However, it remains unclear whether the case will progress that far.
The editor believes that whether within football circles, online communities or society at large, football unites millions of diverse people, while discrimination does the exact opposite. It therefore stands completely contrary to everything football stands for.