Sarah HarriganThe sister of Derry City captain Patrick McEleney has criticised online abuse directed at the team by some fans after their cup final defeat as “toxic and hurtful”.
Derry City were beaten 2-0 by Drogheda United in a shock defeat at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin in front of 20,000 Candystripes fans on Sunday.
Sarah Harrigan, whose brothers Patrick and Shane both play for the team, said the online abuse they and fellow players were subjected to reduced her to tears.
Derry City Football Club and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) have been contacted for comment.
Family handout“Shane and Patrick are very resilient and experienced, and they’re well used to it, but as a person myself, I’m not going to lie, I’ve cried,” Sarah told BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme.
“It’s this minority of online abusers… I don’t even call them trolls any more; I call them abusers because some of the stuff they say is just taking it to the next level.
“As a family, I can only speak for myself, but it does impact me. Luckily enough, my father doesn’t have social media, my mother does.
“It does definitely affect you when you read things about your own brothers.”
FAI Cup disappointment
The defeat came after a disappointing season for Derry, who finished fourth in the league and missed out on the chance to win their seventh FAI Cup.
It also means they have missed out on a chance to play European football next season.
But for season ticketholder Sarah, the online abuse the players were subjected to has gone too far.
She was particularly hurt by comments that some players “weren’t fit to wear the shirt”.
“There are other comments, saying that they wanted people to leave, but these are their jobs,” she said.
“Behind the scenes, the commitment that these players put in week in and week out over the years, I admire it because they miss out on family functions, they miss out on funerals, they miss out on christenings, and that’s the commitment they give to their club.
“And nobody knows from one day to the next what these players are dealing with in their own lives and then having to deal with the online abuse; it’s not nice.”
Sarah said Derry City and the FAI needed to take a tougher stance against the people who abuse players and officials online.
She stopped short of calling for sanctions against those involved but said the club and FAI needed to have policies in place to make sure that they would be “held accountable”.