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Southampton's Jan Bednarek (R) argues with referee Mike Dean during their Premier League clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, February 2, 2021. /CFP
Mike Dean is no stranger to torrents of foul-mouthed abuse from over-sentimental fans.
As a battle-scarred Premier League referee, the 52-year-old knows only too well the peril of being the target of intense scrutiny regarding critical match decisions, and generally manages to shrug off or laugh off those caustic insults that unleashed against him.
But on Monday, Dean could not stand it anymore. He has asked not to involve in any officiating duty in the next round of league fixtures after his family was receiving abuse and death threats on social media.
The online troll followed Dean's controversial decision to send off West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek in their draw with Fulham on Saturday. In Manchester United's 9-0 rout of Southampton, Dean also gave Southampton defender Jan Bednarek marching orders after consulting with the video assistant referee (VAR).
West Ham's Tomas Soucek of West Ham is shown a red card by referee Mike Dean during their Premier League clash with Fulham at Craven Cottage in London, England, February 6, 2021. /CFP
Both Soucek and Bednarek's red cards have already been overturned on appeal but the abuse showed no signs of abating. Premier League chief executive Richard Masters confirmed that Dean had reported the abuse to police and called for "proactive intervention" following the targeting of Dean.
"It is inexcusable that Mike Dean and his family have received online abuse, including death threats, as a result of doing his job officiating at a Premier League match," Masters said in a statement.
"It is completely unacceptable that we are seeing abusive behavior aimed at players, managers and match officials regularly on social media platforms. This once again highlights the need for greater proactive intervention from social media companies to stop online abuse and identify offenders," he added.
Mike Riley, chief of the English refereeing body also threw his weight behind Dean. "Threats and abuse of this nature are totally unacceptable and we fully support Mike's decision to report these messages his family received to the police," he said. "Nobody should be victim of abhorrent messages like this. Online abuse is unacceptable in any walk of life and more needs to be done to tackle the problem."
Marcus Rashford has revealed he was the subject of online racial abuse after Manchester United's game against Arsenal. /CFP
Dean is just the latest victims in the recent wave of online harassment and cyberbullying against prominent football figures. Manchester United trio Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Axel Tuanzebe were all targeted last month, while Chelsea's Reece James, West Brom midfielder Romaine Sawyers and Southampton's Alex Jankewitzalso also suffered horrible abuse online.
As usual, the villainous social media companies have been singled out for blame.
Oliver Dowden, the UK culture secretary, declared on Twitter on Monday that the government "is going to change the law to make social media companies more accountable for what happens on their platforms, and they can start showing their duty of care to players today by weeding out racist abuse now."
"Players must not be abused for doing their jobs – enough is enough," he opined.
Chelsea's Reece James has shared vile messages directed at him on social media. /CFP
However, Dowden's remarks could stir up a real hornet's nest. The prevalence of online abuse is a problem that goes well beyond the realm of football. And although social media powerhouses have vowed to tackle abuse on their platforms, the follow-up measures have often been haphazard, inconsistent and insufficient.
"Only time will tell if the situation improves. But it's not improved over the last few years," Rashford lamented last week.
No one will deny that there is still a long way to go. As much as anything, those incidents of online abuse provides a moment of reckoning. It requires that we examine the worsening situation we get stuck in and commit to more constructive and collaborative leadership by the government and the Big Tech to spearhead a powerful and coordinated response.
For all the hullabaloo over the incident, Dean is expected to return to the pitch after a cooling-off break, but rebuilding trust and rapport online won't be easy.
