Gilberto Silva, the co-founder of the hate-free social media platform Striver, has sounded the alarm over the potential escalation of verbal abuse into physical abuse of football players
Arsenal legend Gilberto Silva has warned that abuse of football players is becoming normalised after Everton stars were verbally bashed by fans at a train station following the heavy 4-0 away defeat at Tottenham.
Sean Dyche’s Toffees were sent back to Merseyside with their tails between their legs last weekend, thanks to goals from Yves Bissouma and Cristian Romero as well as a brace by Son Heung-min.
It left Everton bottom of the Premier League with no points and no goals from their opening two fixtures, with a goal difference of -7, where they remain following last weekend’s spectacular home collapse to Bournemouth despite leading with three minutes of the 90 left to play.
However, following the defeat to Spurs, some fans gathered at Euston Station to make their voices heard, unleashing foul-mouthed tirades, with now-Marseille striker Neal Maupay a particular target. “F*** off, you f***ing rat. F***ing 80 grand a week? You f***ing w****r,” one fan could be heard saying.
Maupay, a notorious wind-up merchant on social media platform X, responded to the abuse. “Imagine another job where it’s normalised to get abuse like this. Hanging around at a train station to scream at men who are trying their best,” he tweeted.
Gilberto, a Premier League ‘Invincible’, and Brazilian World Cup winner-turned-businessman, says abuse of football players both at games and on social media, has become normalised. It was the inspiration behind co-founding Striver, a hate-free social media platform for football fans, which launched last year.
Gilberto has warned that the hate has been normalised potentially until something worse happens. The 47-year-old has called on football clubs, leagues, and federations to do more to protect players and prevent potential escalation to physical violence.
Neal Maupay was the target of abuse at Euston station (
X)
“You don’t train all the week to go to the game with the intention to lose the game,” Gilberto told Mirror Football. “Of course, you know, sometimes you, as a player, you make mistakes. Sometimes things don’t go as you planned.
“But it doesn’t mean that some people, frustrated by the results, have the right to go on to players and have this kind of behaviour. Because imagine themselves in a different way. If they had made a mistake in their company, in the work they do, somebody would have the same behaviour towards them. Maybe one day, if they face this situation, they will understand that the players who play for their clubs, they abuse, have the same feeling as them.”
“What if somebody dies in this case? Why they don’t have some more diligence regarding the situation?” Gilberto continued. “The players don’t know, but the players would never go to find this type of person, trying to abuse them, trying to have revenge.
Gilberto Silva has teamed up with fellow football legend Roberto Carlos and CEO Tim Chase to create Striver (
Getty)
“But I think the players, they should stand up – but not only the players. The clubs should stand up on the side of the players, the federations, all the federations, the confederations around the world, and authorities because this is not normal.”
Players don’t often bite back at online social media abuse, largely carried out by faceless, troll accounts. Gilberto says this is because players are scared of what could follow as a consequence of tense challenges. “They are scared of any type of abuse,” he said.
“And this is one of the things that made us happy regarding Striver, where the players can be themselves without being scared of putting their comments, and just be in a safe environment where they can talk about it. They can put the human side of a football player, to talk as a father, as a son, a brother, as a normal person, and without having any fear of talking about these problems. This is a real problem, and everybody has to take accountability for it.”
