Again racist abuse against Mario Balotelli: Fans of Hellas Verona to accompany the actions of the Italian striker to a monkey are – reacts irritated and receives many expressions of solidarity in the network.
Once again the victim of racist insults: Mario Balotelli (R) during the match in Verona
How to deal with racist hostility in the football stadium? This is not a question, in particular in Italian football, it is only since today, but it is getting louder and louder. Penalties for the clubs? Stadium bans for the Fans? Game crash? The football world discussed the necessary measures, afraid but mostly drastic steps. After all, the Italian football Federation FIGC announced, by means of video proof of the spectators to identify the players in a racist insult. In the Bundesliga, the video will be evaluated on material from the stages, now, in case of need. But enough of the Transfer of the individual if a whole curve player offended?
This is what happened at the match of Serie A between Brescia Calcio at Hellas Verona (1:2) on Sunday. Fans of Hellas Verona gave multiple monkey sounds, if Balotelli was on the Ball and insulted him, Calling him racist. In the 54. Minute stopped Balotelli during an attack, the Ball took him in the hands and shot it in the direction of a Fanblocks of the hosts. Then 29, wanted to leave Years of the course. That he did it, was up to his teammates. Together with players from Verona, they persuaded Balotelli to keep playing. Verona won at the end of 2:1, Balotelli scored in the 85. Minute, the connection hit.
After the final whistle, the next humiliation for Balotelli: The coach of Hellas Verona, Ivan Juric, attempted to deny the behavior of the Fans, or to downplay. “Today, nothing happened. No racist chants, nothing at all,” he told Sky Sport Italia: “Racist abuse repels me, I will constantly be referred to as a dirty Gypsy. But today there was nothing, not even a little bit, nothing. To say otherwise is a lie.” And Hellas President Maurizio Setti told the newspaper “La Stampa”: “We have heard nothing, no insult against the color of the skin”. Everything is just a misunderstanding? Not in the least. The “Uh-Uh-uh-uh”Calls are heard in this ESPN Video:
Support Balotelli received by his club, as well as in the network: In a statement to the press Brescia Calcio defendant the “unworthy behaviour” of some fans of the rival Hellas: “Brescia Calcio in his indignation, that, today, incidents of this kind occur. Football belongs to everyone, and all players deserve the same respect.” Many Fans supported Balotelli’s Tweets and Posts in the social networks and Jérôme Boateng wrote: “no to racism! We will always fight against it.” Balotelli thanked for this solidarity: “you have shown your true people are, and not like someone wrote the Obvious in denial”, Balotelli late on Sunday evening on instagram.
The incident from Verona is just the latest in a long series of racism scandals in Italian football. Alone, Balotelli experienced by now, a number of situations in which he was insulted by Fans or players due to his skin color. Is done nevertheless, so far, the sanctions, there has been hardly. The Italian Federation had recently announced, “Zero tolerance” for racist insults. These words were but so far no significant action followed. Maybe this will be Mario Balotelli, therefore, the next Time not to talk, to stay on the court.
jw/asz (sid, dpa)