Gardaí to investigate racist tweets against Irish international Cyrus Christie

Gardaí are investigating allegedly racist tweets made to Republic of Ireland defender Cyrus Christie in the aftermath of the 5-1 World Cup play-off defeat to Denmark last week.

 

Teammate James McClean revealed the Middlesbrough defender was left 'in tears' after the comments were directed towards his Twitter handle.

 

According to multiple national media sources, the FAI have confirmed that the matter has been referred to the Gardaí Síochána.

 

An anonymous Twitter user wrote a series of vile tweets addressing the footballer, one of which read: “starting a petition to lynch Cyrus Christie,” while another said he should play for Jamaica.

 

Speaking at the PFAI Awards in Dublin on Saturday – during which he was named Overseas Player of the Year – McClean elaborated on an earlier Instagram post.

 

“We spoke afterwards and it really got to a few players. Everybody watched the game and it was poor, we know that,” the West Brom winger said.

 

While stopping short of naming Christie, McClean confirmed that the player was extremely upset by the abuse.

 

“But some of the comments afterwards, which my Instagram post was about, went beyond football. One player in particular was told to go and play for Jamaica. Make of that what you want.

 

“It really upset him. My comments weren’t based on football, they were more personal. That’s for a player who has been a good servant to his country and it cut deep.

 

“That player was in tears, by the way. You’ve just missed out on the World Cup and then to have that.”

 

Gardaí are investigating allegedly racist tweets made to Republic of Ireland defender Cyrus Christie in the aftermath of the 5-1 World Cup play-off defeat to Denmark last week. Teammate James McClean revealed the Middlesbrough defender was left 'in tears' after the comments were directed towards his Twitter handle. An anonymous Twitter user wrote a series of vile tweets addressing the footballer, one of which read: “starting a petition to lynch Cyrus Christie,” while another said he should play for Jamaica. Speaking at the PFAI Awards in Dublin on Saturday – during which he was named Overseas Player of the Year – McClean elaborated on an earlier Instagram post. “We spoke afterwards and it really got to a few players. Everybody watched the game and it was poor, we know that,” the West Brom winger said. “But some of the comments afterwards, which my Instagram post was about, went beyond football. One player in particular was told to go and play for Jamaica. Make of that what you want. “It really upset him. My comments weren’t based on football, they were more personal. That’s for a player who has been a good servant to his country and it cut deep. “That player was in tears, by the way. You’ve just missed out on the World Cup and then to have that.” Coventry-born Christie qualifies to represent Ireland through his Dublin-born maternal grandmother and his great-grandfather, Patrick 'Doc' Malone, played for Shamrock Rovers in the 1920s. He made his international debut for Ireland in 2014 and has gone on to amass 17 caps, including the final seven World Cup qualifying games following Seamus Coleman's injury, scoring twice.

 

Coventry-born Christie qualifies to represent Ireland through his Dublin-born maternal grandmother and his great-grandfather, Patrick 'Doc' Malone, played for Shamrock Rovers in the 1920s.

 

He made his international debut for Ireland in 2014 and has gone on to amass 17 caps, including the final seven World Cup qualifying games following Seamus Coleman's injury, scoring twice.