Faced with racism more and more present in the world of sport, old glories speak.
Despite the sanctions, the controls, the speeches … Racism is a scourge that the world cannot eradicate. And sport is no exception, quite the contrary. If competitions unleash passions and provoke very strong emotions, they are also vectors of racism that many suffer every week.
A few months ago, FIFA notably spoke of the idea of giving a lost match to a team whose supporters would have been guilty of racism. “There is no room for racism. The players targeted have my unconditional support,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Problem: nothing changes and we still had proof of it a few days ago with the French Wesley Fofana, victim of racism on social networks after the match between Arsenal and Chelsea. “It’s pathetic”, notably commented Kylian Mbappé at a press conference with the French team, providing him with total support. “Unfortunately, we go around in circles, nothing is advancing. I will tell you that it is not normal but there is nothing that is advancing.”
And Kylian Mbappé is not the only one to speak. Julio Baptista, a former big football star, passed by Real Madrid and Arsenal, but also an international Brazilian more than forty times, pointed another shocking aspect of world football. In an interview with El Cafelito by Josep Pedreolin Spain, the latter does not understand why “there are no more black coaches in football”.
“I do not know if I will find myself in a somewhat difficult situation … But if you look, there are not many black coaches working. Why? I don’t know. I can’t explain it to you … Maybe the people of color did not have the opportunity or are not well prepared,” he wonders.
If France is affected, Italy and Spain regularly make the news. At Real Madrid, Vinicius Jr is also very committed to this struggle, he who is regularly victim of monkey cries in stadiums … But be careful not to make generalities as Julio Baptista explains. “The problem comes from a minority that causes a lot of damage (…) and I think that a firmer approach should be adopted,” he concluded.