Bournemouth and Republic of Ireland midfielder Harry Arter has revealed that he received widespread abuse from fanson social media, after rumours had surfaced that he could make the switch to play for the English national side.
Arter has been in great form this season for Bournemouth and is forming a successful partnership with loan signing Jack Wilshere at the heart of the Cherries' midfield.
Hecurrently has three caps for Ireland but having never played a competitive fixture for the country, some reports in the media suggested that the Bournemouth player might choose to play for England instead.
After Irish managerMartin O'Neill denied he had heard of such rumours last week,Arter revealed to theSunday Worldthat he received a torrent of abuse from Irish fans who were incensed by the thought of the midfielder playing for England instead.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," Artersaid"This was Irish people who had looked at a few newspaper stories and come to the conclusion that I was about to go and play for England. I never said that was happening and my stance on the whole story was that I didn't need to comment on something that was little more than a rumour.
"Then I see these Twitter messages and, honestly, it was the only time that I have ever had a thought that maybe I shouldn't play for Ireland. The messages were just vile. I was shocked by what people were sending my way. Honestly, I had to check that someone had not hacked my account and put a message on there to inspire this reaction."
Contrary to rumour, Harry Arter is not going to declare for England. The Bournemouth man remains committed to Ireland.
It appears that the rumours are untrue, as many believed them to be, asArter then revealed how many of the abusers were quick to retract the comments they had made to the midfielder.
He added:"A lot of the messages have now been deleted, which says all you need to know about the people that thought it was a good idea to write them in the first place."
Two goals from James McClean and a Shane Long strike give Ireland a vital three points! #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/5UXrwkIsai
Although in the squad, Arter missed both of the Republic of Ireland's recentWorld Cup qualifiers through injury.
It proved to be asuccessfulcouple of games for the Irish after 1-0 and 3-1 wins over Georgia and Moldova respectively. They now sit in second place in the group table, level onpoints with Serbia who are top byvirtueof a better goal difference.