Jan 5 (Reuters) - Newcastle United on Monday condemned racist abuse and threats of violence received by midfielder Joe Willock, saying they will support any investigation to identify the person responsible and hold them accountable.
England midfielder Willock, who is of Caribbean descent, had shared a screenshot of Instagram messages he received from a user who racially abused him and his family, and threatened his life, following Newcastle's 2-0 Premier League win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Willock shared the messages in his Instagram story and said: "I pray you and your family find God. And may him have mercy on you."
Newcastle said this was not the first time the 26-year-old had received abusive messages.
"Sadly, Joe has faced this before. Each time, we have acted quickly to support him and that has been our immediate priority again," the club posted on X.
"We have swiftly reported this matter to the police and we will fully support any investigation to identify the person responsible and hold them accountable, wherever they are.
"This can only happen with meaningful action from Meta, Instagram's owners. We urge Meta to give the police all the information they need to identify the perpetrator, and to do so quickly."
Tottenham Hotspur forward Mathys Tel had also faced online racial abuse in August. Two people were arrested for racially abusing England defender Jess Carter online.
FIFA in November reported a surge in harmful online content targeting players and officials, saying they had stepped up efforts to combat the problem, alerting national associations for follow-up action and blacklisting people responsible for abusive behaviour from future FIFA events.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
