Racist abuse all too normal for Cyrus Christie

Perhaps the worst thing to have to observe about the online racist abuse which was directed at Cyrus Christie after he scored an own goal in Ireland’s 5-1 play-off defeat to Denmark, is that not only was it nothing new to him.

It was, he says, “almost normal”.

At the time, he issued a statement hitting back at the tweets, one of which talked of lynching the 25-year-old. The abuse was referred by the FAI to the Gardaí and condemned by the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland and Show Racism The Red Card, as well as team-mates like James McClean and others in the game.