269% increase in reports submitted to Kick It Out
Kick It Out has revealed a 269% increase on incidents of discrimination reported to the organisation for the 2013/14 season today (22 August).
The statistics, which are compared to complaints filed during the 2012/13 season, relate to incidents within professional and grassroots football, and on social media. They show a dramatic increase in the level of incidents – a leap from 77 to 284 – submitted to Kick It Out.
The overall statistics show that racism (66%), faith-based abuse (20.5%) – with antisemitism making up all but one complaint – and homophobia (8%) were the most common forms of discrimination reported to Kick It Out for the 2013/14 season.
The majority of complaints submitted related to social media abuse (50%), then incidents attached to the professional game (26%), grassroots (22%) and professional players (2%). The increase comes after Kick It Out released its mobile app, which contains a reporting function, in July 2013.
Just over a year on, the app has made an immediate impact as it has become Kick It Out’s most-used reporting mechanism relating to incidents within professional football – responsible for 38% of complaints registered with the organisation at this level of the game.
The statistics also show the high level of incidents of football-related hate crime on social media – a total of 142 – reported to Kick It Out. The organisation passes on all these complaints to the Police, via its online reporting facility True Vision, to investigate.
One case led to a 21-year-old man from London being convicted and fined £150 having posted a derogatory remark on Kick It Out’s official Facebook page in January 2014. A number of cases have seen individuals issued with cautions, and undertaking further education delivered by Kick It Out.
A Restorative Justice outcome was also accepted by a man in his 40s from Norfolk after he posted an offensive comment on Facebook directed at former Norwich City manager Chris Hughton. The individual concerned met with Kick It Out officials for a rehabilitation session and issued a full apology in April.
In October 2013, Anna Jӧnsson joined Kick It Out as its first full-time Reporting Officer. She manages all complaints across the game on behalf of the organisation. A breakdown of the reporting statistics can be found below. Please click here to find out how to report incidents of discrimination to Kick It Out .
Overall
Number of incidents – 284
Type of discrimination – Race (189), Gender (2), Disability (4), Faith (58 – 57 of which are antisemitism), Homophobia (22), Age (0), Other (9)
Professional game complaints
Type of discrimination – Race (67%), Homophobia (16%), Faith (16%), Other (1%), Disability (0%), Gender (0%), Age (0%)
Method of contact – App (38%), website form (33%), email (11%), social media (10%), telephone (5%), letter (3%)
Professional player complaints
Type of discrimination – Race (60%), Homophobia (20%), Faith (20%), Disability (0%), Gender (0%), Age (0%)
Method of contact – Social media (33%), email (33%), telephone (17%), website form (17%), app (0%), letter (0%)
Grassroots complaints
Type of discrimination – Race (77%), Other (13%), Homophobia (5%), faith (3%), disability (2%), gender (0%), age (0%)
Method of contact – Email (39%), website form (29%), telephone (23%), app (6%), social media (1.5%), letter (1.5%)
Social media incidents
Type of discrimination – Race (62%), Faith (30%), Homophobia (4%), Disability (2%), Gender (2%), Age (0%)
Breakdown of cases closed at the end of 2013-2014 season
Professional game
64 cases closed
8 cases proven (12.5%)
Professional player
4 cases closed
3 cases proven (75%)
Grassroots
39 cases closed
14 cases proven (36%)
Social media
142 incidents reported
73 cases led to offender identified and/or action taken and/or account deleted (51%)