The vicious racist abuse of Vinícius Jr – the Real Madrid and Brazil star – points to something rotten at the very core of Spanish football. La Liga, marketed worldwide as the glamorous pinnacle of club football, is riddled with racism and racist attitudes at every level of the game: from the pitch to the stands. This has been made worse by a culture of denial, complacency and inaction on the part of those charged with overseeing Spanish football. Turning a blind eye to the problem has now come back to bite them in a big way.
The racist taunting of Vinícius began even before kick off in the weekend game between Real Madrid and Valencia at the Mestalla stadium. Valencia fans chanted in Spanish, ‘Vinícius, you’re a monkey’ as Real’s players got off the team bus. During the match, the player confronted abusive fans and even pointed out the perpetrators. It made little difference.
Is there any other job in which someone is subject to racist abuse in the workplace, and simply be expected to carry on?
Vinícius took to social media after the match, saying ‘racism is normal in La Liga’ and claimed that ‘in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists’. Who can blame him? He has been subjected to repeated racist taunts since moving to Spain five years ago. He went on to list some of the incidents including ‘monkey’ chants, offensive gestures during a game, and an effigy hung off a highway bridge. It is sickening stuff.
Real’s coach Carlo Ancelotti backed his player, admitting that La Liga has a racism problem, before issuing a damning prophecy: ‘Nothing will happen, because this has already taken place several times in other stadiums and nothing has been done. Nothing.’
Ancelotti’s scepticism is justified. There have been nine similar complaints for racist abuse against Vinícius over the last two seasons, but most of the cases have been shelved by prosecutors. So far only one Mallorca supporter may end up going on trial for allegedly insulting the Brazilian during a game. The first ever trial in Spain of a football fan on racist abuse charges is expected to take place this year.
The league has been mired in these problems for years. Racist taunts from players and fans – including the use of the N-word – are par for the course in the Spanish game. Spain fans aimed monkey chants at England’s black footballers during a friendly game as far back as 2004, causing an international outcry. When Barcelona played Villarreal in 2014, one of Barca’s players, Dani Alves, had a banana thrown at him from the stands. In 2018, Jefferson Lerma, who played in midfield for Levante, accused an opponent of using a racist slur during a game. He claimed his complaints were ignored.
It is a problem that goes beyond players and fans. In 2004, Luis Aragones – who went on to manage Spain at the 2008 Euros – was caught on camera referring to the Arsenal and France striker Thierry Henry as ‘that black sh*t’. He was eventually fined the equivalent of a day’s wages; the fine was later overturned.
Even now, some of those in authority still don’t get it. ‘Neither Spain nor La Liga are racist’, La Liga president Javier Tebas tweeted. Instead he appeared to think the player was at fault for his criticisms – form of victim-blaming that is revealing in itself.
Others, even if belatedly, are cottoning on to the dangers posed to the game’s reputation. ‘It stains an entire team, all fans and this entire country,’ said Luis Rubiales, the president of the country’s football federation. But meaningful action is needed, not pious words and default slogans about everyone fighting racism together.
The outpouring of support for Vinícius, including a universal chorus of condemnation from some of football’s most famous black players, appears to have finally shamed the Spanish authorities into action after days of turmoil. Valencia have been fined €45,000 (£39,000) and landed with a five-match partial closure of their stadium. The authorities are also demanding more direct powers to punish offenders in the future. It is hard, given their track record, to have much confidence that they will use any new powers effectively.
The glamour and money involved in being an elite level footballer often overshadows everything else. People forget that players are ordinary human beings trying to do the job they’re paid to do. Is there any other job in which someone can be subject to racist abuse and taunts in the workplace, and simply be expected to carry on? Football is the only working environment in which racist insults and abuse have become normalised.
Vinícius should have walked off the pitch this weekend. Black footballers everywhere may have to say enough is enough and withdraw their labour if the cancer of racism in the game is not excised once and for all.
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