Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku has called on social media companies to do more to stop online racist abuse and feels there is a need for football to adopt “stronger positions” than just taking the knee.
Earlier this week, his Blues teammates Marcos Alonso explained his decision to stop taking the knee before matches, instead continuing to stand and point to the ‘No To Racism’ badge on his shirt.
Last season, Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha also stopped taking the knee, opting to stand instead in his own protest against racism and discrimination.
And the Belgian striker, who has 3 goals in 4 games this season, has called for a players’ summit with social media companies, governments and stakeholders to help combat online racism.
“I think we can take stronger positions, basically,” Lukaku told CNN Sport.
“Yeah, we are taking the knee, but in the end, everybody’s clapping but sometimes after the game, you see another insult.”
He added: “The captains of every team, and four or five players, like the big personalities of every team, should have a meeting with the CEOs of Instagram and governments and the FA and the PFA, and we should just sit around the table and have a big meeting about it.
“How we can attack it straight away, not only from the men’s game but also from the women’s game.
“I think just all of us together and just have a big meeting and have a conference and just talk about stuff that needs to be addressed to protect the players, but also to protect fans and younger players that want to become professional footballers.
“If you want to stop something, you can really do it,” the 28-year-old also said.
“We as players, we can say, ‘Yeah, we can boycott social media,’ but I think it’s those companies that have to come and talk to the teams, or to the governments, or to the players themselves and find a way how to stop it because I really think they can.”