I got threats after I switched my allegiance to England, reveals Declan Rice
Getty
West Ham United star Declan Rice has revealed that he received threats after switching allegiance from the Republic of Ireland to England. The 20-year-old has become a mainstay for the Hammers but was capped at a youth level and won three senior caps for the Irish before switching to England.
Now linked with a move to Manchester United, Declan Rice has endured some rise over the last year or so. The 20-year-old’s transformation into a defensive midfielder has been seamless for West Ham, with many considering him a star for the future. That saw England chase him to represent them at a national level despite Rice having already won three senior caps for the Republic of Ireland.
But since they were all friendly games and not competitive ones, it did allow the 20-year-old to switch allegiance to England, which he did. However, in an interview with the BBC, Rice has now revealed that he received threats from fans over social media after his switch.
"I've had people saying they're going to come to my house. You click on their profile and they'd just be a fake profile, so you don't know whether it's true or not. Thinking about it, I was never actually scared about it, because always fans are going to be giving me abuse and whatnot over it. You just kind of look at it and laugh, you think, 'Yeah, all right, as if you're going to come and do that type of thing'," he told ITV News.
The West Ham star is just the latest in a long line of players to reveal their abuse on social media, with Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku, Paul Pogba and a few others all subjected to the same. Things have gotten so bad that England women’s head coach Phil Neville has urged players to boycott social media to help curb the abuse.
