And it won't surprise many to learn that footballers and football teams are often targeted by internet trolls.

But just how much do they come under fire? Anti-discrimination group Kick It Out has endeavoured to find out.

How bad is it?

Which clubs are abused the most?

More than 95,000 discriminatory posts were directed towards Premier League teams.

Chelsea have received more abuse than any other top-flight club.

The league leaders were the subject of 20,000 discriminatory posts between August 2014 and March 2015.

Where did most abuse appear?

Social media activity on Twitter accounted for 88% of the 134,400 discriminatory posts.

It was followed by:

Facebook (8%)

Forums (3%)

Blogs (1%)

The report does not include mentions on private profiles, which are gated and could not be monitored.

How were the figures collated?

The research was conducted by social media management agency Tempero and Brandwatch, a social intelligence and analytics company.

It focused on discriminatory messages directed at Premier League clubs and players between August 2014 and March 2015.

So what now?

Kick It Out wants more to be done to tackle football-related hate crime across social media.

It is exploring the possibility of setting up an expert group to tackle the problem and as part of that, plans to meet with those working in football, the police, internet safety bodies and various social media platforms to discuss what can be done.

 

(ВВС)