Today's scroll through the BBC Sport app showed a familiar and sad theme.

Racism, rape and death threats: One weekend of social media abuse in football

I avoid social media to protect myself - Amorim

What is going on in our culture that makes us think it is okay to abuse people? Whether to their face or online?

If you spend even 2 minutes on X (formerly Twitter) or scroll through comments on Instagram, you can see why, like Rueben Amorim, so many sportspeople in the public eye have chosen to avoid social media completely, or at least delegate the management of their accounts to others.

Sonia Bompastor states a truth that has become obvious when she says:

"People have a sense of impunity online."

Yet even on the pitch, the story is less than wholesome. Aston Villa's Donyell Mallen was recently hit by projectiles thrown by Young Boys fans, whilst Crystal Palace's Ruesha Littlejohn tackled Leicester's Hannah Cain in a heated on-field clash. Ruesha has stated her deep regret at letting her "emotions spill over", and has accepted the FA will need to take action, but the "outpouring of abuse" on social media has been extreme.

So, what is going on?

Well, one diagnosis is that we’ve made sportspeople out to be more than they ever were. As Paul diagnoses sin in Romans:

“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.” Romans 1:22

We’ve raised sports stars to be superhuman, godlike people who we expect to be infallible in every aspect of their lives. So, whenever they fail us, we feel entitled to hurl abuse.

"What I went through was so extreme, the whole country hated me. Hated me.”

So said David Beckham, reflecting on the aftermath of his famous red card.

"It changed my life. I felt very vulnerable and alone. Wherever I went I got abuse every single day... It took a toll on me that I never even knew myself. People look at you in a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things that they said. That was difficult."

It is challenging to listen to this and not feel ashamed of a culture where this does not surprise us, where this is a daily occurrence for elite athletes of any level in the public eye.

Then we’ve made the same move with referees. We expect total justice and perfect decision-making from them. It doesn’t matter if we’ve made ten mistakes in a game; we expect perfection from imperfect humans like us.

It’s why VAR so infuriates football fans. It seems to promise perfect decisions whilst failing to consider that fallible humans are still ultimately in charge of most of the decisions. VAR simply emphasises this and reminds us of our fallibility.

Another recent way this has been seen is in the commentary around players giving up the sport or withdrawing from games for rest. Former Wimbledon champion, Ons Jabeur, announced she would take an indefinite break from competing in July to put her health first. Stating her intention to extend that break and start a family in November, she said:

"The schedule is killing everyone. I'm not the first one to stop playing."

Players and coaches have been speaking out against punishing schedules and unrealistic workloads for years now, to the point it has become a press-conference trope.

We expect our players to be tireless. We expect them not to need rest. We forget they are human.

Novak Djokovic has had to take time out to "reconstruct" his body after months of struggle with injury, and we're approaching the Christmas season, where footballers' schedules get even more intense.

As we head into Christmas, we're pointed towards God coming as “good news, of great joy, for all people.” All people, including those exceptionally gifted at sport, are made equally in the image of God.

And that’s the key. They are not gods but ones made in His image.

When we forget this, we forget to look in the mirror when we see wrong behaviour, poor decisions and tired bodies. We fail to remember they are humans just like us.

Looking to Christmas, we also remember God becoming a man and choosing to feel the same frailties we physically feel. God decided to come to earth and receive unfair abuse, limit himself and feel tiredness and pain because of his love for us. Because of our sin, because of our weakness, he became weak and powerless himself, in the form of a child who came to earth ultimately to die.

May we show grace and kindness to our fellow image-bearers when the culture of social media pushes us to treat them otherwise, and may we delight in the one who became weak so that we may become strong.

This article was adapted from "The thing we all get wrong about sport" released in December 2023.

Jonny Reid

Jonny is the Director of Engagement at Oak Hill College and also writes for Christians in Sport. He plays hockey at Bicester Hockey Club and is one of the leaders of Town Church Bicester.