Didier Drogba uses Galatasaray’s Facebook page to attack racism
Ivory Coast and Galatasaray striker Didier Drogba took to Facebook this week in an effort to condemn and attack fans who had been directing racist abuse to him and other black players in Europe. The former Chelsea man was allowed to take over the main Facebook Page on Monday to post a scathing attack on Fenerbahce fans who had demonstrated appalling scenes of racism during Sunday’s Istanbul derby. Several Fenerbahce supporters were photographed waving bananas at Galastasaray’s black players. Even more oddly, some fans were reported to be wearing black bin bags over their heads and holding “Negro” cookies.
Clearly hurt and appalled by the racism, Drogba was allowed by the Galatasaray Social Media team to post his own message stating,
“Please don’t get me wrong being in Turkey since the last 5 months is the best thing that could have happen in my career. I’m already in love with Turkey and Turkish people, I’ve been playing against many teams in the country and they were always respectful despite me playing for Galatasaray. That’s why I can’t and will never change my opinion about this beautiful country. Stupid people are all around the world it’s up to us to educate them. Now more than ever I will continue to promote Turkish football everywhere in the world as much I can and represent my team the best I can. Peace out!”
The Facebook update has since amassed support worldwide and attracted over 47,000 Likes, 4,000 comments and over 7,000 shares.
Undoubtedly, it is excellent to see a player condemn such horrible racism and use Social Media as a way of quickly bringing such disgusting behaviour to light. Furthermore, it’s an interest approach to see a football club allow a player to use their official channels as a platform to make a statement. It is important to note that the message from Drogba looks very authentic and passionate – suggesting the club were happy to let him write it himself – a an entirely different PR approach than most clubs adopt in Europe.
Needless to say, it is another fine example of fan engagement from a football club using Social Media and we salute both Didier Drogba and Galatasaray for being brave enough to post it out to their 8.2 million fans.
Do you agree that it’s good to see clubs allowing players more freedom to use their official Social Media channels or is this a dangerous move?
NOTE: Thanks to @nilesh14 for alerting us to this story!
