IRISH FOOTBALLER James McClean has shared some of the harrowing abuse he and his family receive on social media.
The 31-year-old,who plays for Stoke, posted a statement on his Instagram page on Friday speaking about the discrimination faced by people in the public eye, saying it is "great to see" media outlets and players condemning threats and abuse against people for their race, gender or sexuality.
However, he went on to question whether "being abused for being Irish and anti-Irish abuse" is "acceptable", as he has highlighted the abuse he has received for being Irish "and the silence from everyone is deafening".
He asked: "Is it not popular enough to be [acknowledged] or spoke out about too?"
On Sunday, two days after the Irishman posted the public statement, McClean again took to Instagram to share some of the abuse he and his family had received, sharing a screenshot of private messages he had been sent by one man.
The messages included the person stating he hoped "for everyone's sake you just f*** off outta this world," followed by union flag emojis.
"F*** the IRA and f*** Ireland you c****," one message read, while another demanded "Answer me you stupid ginger pr***."
The man then wrote "Don't make me set your house on fire and burn everyone inside it."
Sharing the image, McClean wrote on his Instagram story that "the above abuse is fine, that's water [off] a ducks back".
But "you mention stuff like [the] last message there and anything involving my kids, that's crossing the line".
He went on to say that if "this wee pr***" wanted to repeat the message to his face "I'd happily slap the head off him".
James McCleanMcClean went on to share images and other social media accounts of the man who allegedly sent the messages, and urged Sky Sports to "act or look into this".
The shocking revelation comes after a high-profile court case in which a Kerry teenager was charged with racially abusing footballer Ian Wright.
Teenager Patrick O'Brien, from Tralee, County Kerry, sent a string of hateful messages, including expletive-ridden death threats, threats against Wright's family and slurs including the n-word, to the footballer on Instagram in May of last year.
Former Arsenal and England star Wright chose to publicise the messages at the time, sharing images on Twitter and writing "I know I'm not meant to look at them but these messages still hit me so hard man.
"This is a child!", he wrote. "This kid [h]as a direct line into me & is able to send this without any worry."
The 18-year-old handed himself into a local Garda station and was brought before the courts for the vile racist abuse, where he pleaded guilty to charges of harassment.
He claimed he had sent the string of hateful messages as he was angry that Wright's character had not performed well in a FIFA playstation game.
O'Brien admitted the abuse but escaped a criminal conviction and was instead given probation.
Wright himself had previously said he had forgiven the teenager for the racist written attack against him, but admitted upon learning the teenager had escaped a criminal conviction that he was "disappointed" with the outcome of the court and did not think that his forgiveness would lead to O'Brien escaping conviction.
"My forgiveness of this young man was for my own deeply personal need and desire to move forward without further anguish.
"I'm a 57 year old man that has experienced racism throughout my life," he said, adding "I wasn't expecting my forgiveness to be an invitation to lighten a sentence."
