Hannah Cain: ‘Ugly’ social media affects players’ mental health

“During that time, I think we weren’t playing badly at the club and I wasn’t playing badly, but some people decided to send offensive messages after almost every game, and it got to a point where I thought this was not acceptable,” Kane added.

“It doesn’t matter what you do on the pitch, it affects you at some point.

“You see a lot of what’s going on and you start thinking, ‘Are they right?’ Obviously you know they’re not, but I think it’s become so much that sometimes you have to speak out.”

Cain believes people can forget that footballers “are real human beings”, with abuse affecting players’ lives away from the pitch as well as family members.

So, Cain says she will use her platform to try to prevent further abuse.

“I think when you say something, people start deleting all the negative comments they’ve made and think that’s a good thing,” she added.

“But if I can make just a tiny bit of influence on people thinking before they write something, I will definitely do it.”

“You have to take the good with the bad sometimes and I understand that people can get carried away and let their emotions get away from them, but I think [it is good to have] “A reminder that it can have a serious impact on people’s mental health.”