Behind Closed Doors

Football is back, but not as we know it. The anticipated return of the Premier League will be played behind closed doors for the first time in its history, and could continue that way well into the following season. Clubs, leagues and officials are firmly focused on how this will effect their teams (and finances) as well as the viewing public watching at home. A range of new technology is being considered to make the game feel as normal as possible. Some clubs are placing screens in place of where their fans would have been sitting - inviting their fans to be displayed in their homes supporting their team.

Others are trialling fan sound effects - singing and chanting - to be played through the tannoys to imitate the sound of the game. But one thing we are almost certain will continue as normal, is the abuse targeted at players.

Signify have been working with Kick It Out, the Premier League and a number of Premier League clubs to set up a trial of our online threat monitoring service - Threat Matrix - to learn how the new normal in football will effect fan behaviour in terms of social media abuse.

Threat Matrix has been under development for the last 18 months, building on the Communications Threat Assessment Protocol called CTAP-25. This intelligence framework provides an evidence-based and defensible approach to the screening and assessment of inappropriate, threatening and abusive contact.. Signify have worked with the originators of CTAP-25, Risk Assessment experts, Theseus Risk Management, and have developed a proprietary service capable of monitoring specific issues across multiple social media channels, in order to identify, illuminate and evidence instances of online threat and abuse.

Before the Pandemic arrived, we were in talks with a number of Premier League clubs and international football authorities, looking at ways to implement the service in order to help protect players, clubs, management, officials and fans from the scourge of online abuse. We have been encouraged by the support and enthusiasm we have received, (all the more astonishing when taking into consideration the fact that there are no sporting events taking place!).

We anticipate an increase in the level and ferocity of online abuse being targeted specifically at Black footballers as the game returns, the frustration of fans not being able to follow their team in person or interact normally with their friends, the availability of faster, more accessible internet connections at home (many football stadiums are known for offering poor mobile / internet service areas) and zero restrictions on alcohol - it is hard to see any kind of improvement on the levels of online abuse likely to take place.

This was the central argument in a recent article featured by Premium Sports Website, The Athletic - who interviewed Signify on this specific issue:

We shared evidence of a small study we carried out at the start of the Lockdown process, where we monitored online abuse during a few Serie A fixtures (played behind closed doors). The rates of online abuse continued on from before the Lockdown, with a marked focus on some targeted homophobic content being particularly prevalent.

We will continue to work on this important issue and hope to gain further support from more Premier League and international sports, entertainment and media teams. Many players and managers have recently been urging their clubs, leagues and representatives to take more direct, pro-active action on the issues - we have developed a service that we believe will support this.

To learn more about Threat Matrix, please visit this page.