Mere hours after reactivating his Twitter account, Yaya Toure was racially abused by a number of users who were then reported to the anti-discriminatory body, Kick It Out.
Toure decided to re-enter the Twitter world on Monday following Manchester City’s 1-0 victory over Manchester United, tweeting:
“Great to be back on twitter after a good win yesterday. Now my focus is on the next game ... Happy Monday everyone!!”
But a happy Monday for Toure, it would not be. As many replies sent warm welcome’s back to the Twittersphere other replies attacked the 31-year old, to which he responded: “Thanks for all the welcome-back tweets and support. Shame about ignorant minority. StillFocused”.
Thanks for all the welcome back tweets and support. Shame about ignorant minority. #StillFocused
— Yaya Touré (@YayaToure) November 4, 2014
On Tuesday, BBC spoke with Toure about the incident.
“For me it’s a disgrace, to be honest. We need to do something to try to tell people those kinds of behaviour have to stop. I want those people to understand what they’re doing is wrong.
“To have such aggression in sport, I can’t understand that. That’s why I’ve been trying to fight it,” added Touré.
“Football doesn’t have a colour. We’re just people from all over the world trying to enjoy the game. I never see this in rugby, I never see that in tennis or anything else, I don’t know where it’s coming from.”
And so, the beauty of Twitter remains it’s biggest blight, a form of media that gives a voice to everyone in the world from the most enlightened to the disturbed. If Twitter and other social media forums look to be a place where famous footballers and celebrities can interact with lay-people perhaps the time has come for police to serve, protect and make an example out of those who run afoul of the law.