The Fare Network wants to develop a tool that monitors and allows for easier reporting of far-right extremist hate crime and/or discrimination at football matches, as well as incidents of hate speech targeted at football players online. Their approach seeks to collate better data on the status of discrimination and hate speech in football, as well as to engage social media companies and football assocations with evidence and research-based recommendations on how better to tackle this issue.

The first component of the project is a software tool that monitors hate speech targeting athletes online and that maps the interconnections between far-right extremist groups and fans. This feeds into a manual produced to identify and deconstruct far-right narratives within football communities which is passed to relevant stakeholders, including football coaches, clubs and associations. The Fare Network will leverage its existing network of 5000 organisations across 60 countries to further disseminate the outputs of this work.

Key insights

• Despite stadiums being empty during the pandemic, the Fare Network noted an increase in hate speech on social media as online activity increased.
• The social media monitoring tool was rolled out during the UEFA Euro 2021.
• An education manual about the dangers of radicalisation will be available in 10 countries across Europe as an output from the tool.