Football fans are uniting to call for Chelsea to ban a group of supporters who sang abusive chants about Arsenal star Declan Rice and his girlfriend.
Rice was targeted by Chelsea fans during Arsenal‘s 5-0 win over the Blues on Monday, after his long-term partner, Lauren Fryer, deleted all of her Instagram pictures having receiving a barrage of abuse online over her appearance.
Lauren, 25, who is the childhood sweetheart of Arsenal’s Rice, also 25, wiped all posts from her Instagram page in recent days after finding herself the target of cruel online trolls.
The trolling made its way into the real world on Tuesday, however, with footage shared to X formerly Twitter, showing Rice to be the target of vile chants from Chelsea fans.
Footage from the away end at the Emirates on Tuesday showed a group of supporters singing a chant that referred to Rice’s ‘bird’.
Rice appeared to be getting ready to take a corner in front of the away end of the club he played for as a youth between 2006 and 2013.
The England star ignored the chants, which repeated the slur three times.
Fryer has been taunted for her appearance, with the bullying first starting in December last year when an anonymous account told midfielder Rice he ‘could do better’.
But after Monday’s video emerged, fans from different clubs grouped to condemn the abuse and call for bans for any supporters involved.
One fan of West Ham, Rice’s former club, wrote: ‘I think this is one of the most depressing things I have seen sung in recent years.’
Another added: ‘Absolutely disgusting, have them banned from the stadium.’
Chelsea supporter Dave Spencer posted: ‘Shame on them for letting the fans down, as a Chelsea fan I find this disgusting.’
Chelsea’s ground regulations read: ‘The following activities are strictly forbidden and will result in arrest and/or ejection from the Ground… Racial, homophobic or discriminatory abuse, chanting or harassment is strictly forbidden and will result in arrest and/or ejection from the Ground.’
Fryer has since been vigorously defended by Rice fans over the comments. Taking to X on Wednesday, one outraged fan wrote: ‘I honestly worry about the mindset of some people. This is Lauren Fryer the girlfriend of Declan Rice who has suffered so much online abuse recently.’
Another posted: ‘A beautiful woman, a couple in love, with a young family. Some within this world need to get a grip’, while a third shared: ‘Appreciation post for this beautiful woman Lauren Fryer. We’re sorry to see that in 2024 women are still subject to so many disgusting comments.’
Love Island star Liberty Poole, meanwhile, who appeared on the seventh series in 2022 and Love Island All Stars earlier this year, wrote on her Instagram Stories: ‘I think she’s beautiful this is crazy”.
‘What happened to celebrating different body types and embracing how we are all individually made. Beauty standards these days are unrealistic and everyone’s gone mad because of social media”.
‘I’m going to keep preaching about it till I die. Time for change, this can’t continue.’