FORMER Premier League referee Bobby Madley has claimed he needed police protection after a fake rumour that he had sex with a dog went viral.
Madley was a familiar sight in the top flight every week until his shock retirement in August 2018 at the age of 32.
The official reason given for his exit initially was due to a change in “personal circumstances” – but a vile and false claim that he was sacked for bestiality spread like wildfire online.
And now, speaking to The Athletic, Madley has said the fake rumour led to people threatening to visit his home.
He said: “I’m a Huddersfield fan, Huddersfield being the Terriers, and I think it was a Leeds fan who put out a comment that I was a ‘dog botherer’.
“Then it just snowballed online.
“People were putting up pictures, quite inventive stuff, and some of them were funny.
“But then people started tagging in the police and the RSPCA and it started to get out of hand.
“All of a sudden, it was trending number nine worldwide.
“Suddenly, people were saying they had seen a video and that I should be arrested.
“Then, there were animal rights campaigners saying, ‘I know where he lives’. I ended up needing police protection, all from a nonsense rumour.”
SunSport told you that Madley was actually sacked for mocking a disabled man on Snapchat.
Recording a clip of a man with a walking impairment passing his car at his children’s school, Madley wrote: “F*** me I have a chance of winning the parents race this year.”
Madley is set to return to the English game this year – but only after recovering from personal and professional hell.
He said: “It got as low as it could. I was hiding something inside. You know you’re having a tough time but you’re smiling with people and telling yourself you must be all right.
“Then the moment the lights go out at night, your head comes alive.
“I’d be sitting up at three in the morning, in tears, thinking about everything, wondering what I could have done differently.
“I’d find myself going on Twitter to look through every post that was about me.
“I was searching for that one positive line, just one person to say, ‘Leave him alone, he’s a really nice guy’ or ‘He doesn’t deserve this’.
“I was tormenting myself and, of course, what you get on Twitter are people criticising you, and worse.”
