West Ham midfielder Rice faced abuse after choosing to play for England despite previously playing for Republic of Ireland
Monday 9 September 2019 23:39, UK
Declan Rice wants to see a crackdown on social media abuse after he received threats over his switch to England from the Republic of Ireland.
The West Ham midfielder says he was subjected to taunts by some Irish fans who branded him "Judas" after his switch in February.
Having represented the Irish team at youth level and won three senior caps, earlier this year the 20-year-old announced his attention to switch to the country of his birth.
Now Rice believes action needs to be taken to deal with the abuse he and others receive via social media.
"We're in 2019 and it's happening week in week out, it's not good enough, we need to stamp our authority better."
"Yeah I've had a few bad bits, I've had people saying they're going to come to my house... yeah online," he told ITV News. "There's a few bits I could go into but I don't need to go into it, threats to my family, threats to me.
"You click on their profile and they'd just be like a fake profile so [you] don't know whether it's true or not.
"We're in 2019 and it's happening week in week out, it's not good enough, we need to stamp our authority better."
England boss Gareth Southgate praised Rice - who is in line for his fifth cap for England in the Euro 2020 qualifier against Kosovo - for the way he has handled the situation.
Southgate said: "When I spoke with Declan about the possibility of him transferring association across, I was very conscious that this was something that could happen.
"That is why I wanted to tread very carefully, to make sure him and his family had all the time they needed to make a decision.
"I never pushed, because I suspected that this would be part of the consequences of that. I think he has dealt with everything incredibly maturely.
"He just wants to focus on his football and I think he has been a really excellent addition to our squad, in terms of his ability but also his mentality and personality."
