Football: never-ending racism?
By Guillaume Mahot
Time spent on the pitch was particularly hard for black football players over the last few months with an unwholesome and proliferating racism that keeps coming down from the stands, and examples are unfortunately not lacking: either in Russia (Malcom), in Italy (Keane, Matuidi, Kessié), in France (Gouano) or even in Bulgaria for an international game against England whose incidents compelled the president of the Bulgarian football federation Borislav Mihaylov to resign (his resignation was even demanded by Bulgarian Prime Minister Boïko Borissov!), racist acts tend to multiply.
Football being the reflection of society, it is not a big surprise to witness such an evolution in the world of today. Without falling into pessimism, the recent events occurring in the United States with the police shooting black citizens, Trump’s election, Bolsonaro’s election, and extreme right-wing political parties thriving in countries like Italy or France, all of this is the evidence of something that is not turning right in our contemporary period. And football makes no exception.
Last Sunday in Verona, a game of Serie A was taking place between Brescia and Hellas Verona, won 2-1 by the host squad. The result was finally anecdotic given what happened with Mario Balotelli, who was taken to task by some stupid fans (can we call those people fans?) of Verona with the notorious action of these last few days to disturb, annoy and shock people: monkey screams. Balotelli threatened with leaving the pitch, eventually stayed and scored one goal.
Everyone knows the story of the international Italian striker. Born in 1990 in Palermo from Ghanaian parents, Rose and Thomas Barwuah, Mario grew up in the province of Brescia and was raised by a host family, the Balotelli. After a tumultuous career that brought him to Manchester, Milan, Liverpool, Nice and Marseille, the forward decided to go back home this summer and signed with Brescia. Balotelli was not in a hurry to play in Italy again, and we can understand why. This week, the leader of a Verona fans’ section was banned from stadiums until 2030 because he said Balotelli was not completely Italian. The beginning of a solution? It is time.
Africa Global News Publication
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