Mario Balotelli is the most abused Premier League Player on Social Media as shocking statistics show vile messages are sent to stars and clubs every 2.6 minutes.
Mario received the most abuse and Chelsea the greatest volume of discriminatory messages on social media, according to extensive research undertaken by Kick It Out.Sportsmail can reveal the shocking, acidic culture of discrimination — mainly based on race, gender or sexual orientation — aimed at Premier League football clubs and their players on the internet.
Football's anti-discrimination campaigners teamed up with Tempero and Brandwatch to produce the most detailed findings of discrimination online. They discovered an abusive message is directed at a Premier League club or one of their players every 2.6 minutes with a total of 134,400 posted on Twitter, Facebook, forums or blogs between August 2014 and March 2015.Of the most popular players investigated, Liverpool striker Balotelli received by the far the most with more than 8,000 discriminatory messages directed at him and Arsenal's Danny Welbeck faced 1,700.
In each case, at least 50 per cent of the abuse was racist. Meanwhile Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge received 1,600, more than 60 per cent of which related to sexual orientation.
The clubs facing the most abuse reflected the top five in the league — albeit in a different order — Chelsea receiving 20,000, Liverpool 19,000, Arsenal 12,000 and Manchester United and City both getting 11,000.
Social media, in particular Twitter, has been a constant problem for football clubs since it grew in popularity, with Premier League stars and clubs having millions of followers. Manchester United tried to ban Twitter among their players in 2010 to little success.
Former Liverpool player Ryan Babel was the first professional player to face action for a post online when he accepted a Football Association charge of improper conduct and was fined £10,000 for criticising referee Howard Webb on Twitter in 2011.
Last year, Rio Ferdinand was suspended for three matches and fined £25,000 by the governing body when he included the word 'sket' — slang for a promiscuous woman or girl — in a reply to a tweet mocking him.
The clubs facing the most abuse reflected the top five in the league — albeit in a different order — Chelsea receiving 20,000, Liverpool 19,000, Arsenal 12,000 and Manchester United and City both getting 11,000.
Almost a third of the abusive posts were racist, a quarter were based on gender and just under a fifth about sexual orientation. A further 11 per cent were about disability, nine per cent anti-semitism, five per cent islamophobia, two per cent about age and one per cent regarding gender reassignment.The city that generated the highest volume of discriminatory posts by far was London, with 26,433 recorded during this campaign. Manchester is second with 8,331 and Liverpool follow with 6,792. Each of those are places with large populations which are home to successful clubs.
Social media, in particular Twitter, has been a constant problem for football clubs since it grew in popularity, with Premier League stars and clubs having millions of followers. Manchester United tried to ban Twitter among their players in 2010 to little success.
Former Liverpool player Ryan Babel was the first professional player to face action for a post online when he accepted a Football Association charge of improper conduct and was fined £10,000 for criticising referee Howard Webb on Twitter in 2011.
Last year, Rio Ferdinand was suspended for three matches and fined £25,000 by the governing body when he included the word 'sket' — slang for a promiscuous woman or girl — in a reply to a tweet mocking him.
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