James McClean spoke out after receiving similar abuse just last week.
Shane Duffy is the latest Irish footballer to receive online abuse after a handful of his compatriots received similar insults in recent months.
Duffy received a string of abusive messages on Instagram, most of which was sectarian, however the last message targeted Duffy more personally.
“Haha, your dad’s dead” was sent to Duffy in a vile personal attack. His father, Brian Duffy, sadly passed away just last year at the age of 53.
Duffy responded by putting up an Instagram story with the caption “There’s abuse which is fine but surely there’s a limit?”. The sender is believed to come from Northern Ireland.
Duffy is not the only Irish player to receive abuse in recent times. James McClean was of course targeted last week – and his whole career in fact – in a sectarian/xenophobic attack which launched a wave of support in his direction.
Ireland u21 international Jonathan Afolabi was targeted in recent months, also on Instagram, based on the colour of his skin.
It begs a question as to what Instagram are doing to prevent this abuse? Unlike many other social media sites, users are capable of sending messages to anyone, regardless of whether they’re verified or not. Clearly this is a unique selling point of the site, however it appears to be having negative ramifications on the receivers of said messages.
Instagram are now understood to be investigating the abuse sent to Duffy.
