7 arrested for racism
SPAIN - Spanish police arrested seven people yesterday over two incidents of racial abuse targeting Real Madrid’s Brazilian star Vinicius Junior, including one this weekend that sparked an international outcry.
Spain’s football league, LaLiga, has been engulfed in a racism scandal after the 22-year-old forward was subjected to racist taunts during Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Valencia and later sent off.
The player has been taunted by opposition fans since he joined Real in 2018, but the latest incident has kicked up a storm over whether Spain is doing enough to stamp out racism in football.
Early yesterday, police confirmed arresting three youths in Valencia for ‘insults and gestures with racist overtones’ towards the player that amounted to ‘an alleged hate crime’ during Sunday’s match.
The game was held up for several minutes and the referee wrote in his post-match report that shouts of ‘monkey’ had been directed at Vinicius.
Suspects
Police said the investigation remained open to identify further suspects. In a statement, Valencia confirmed three fans had been arrested, reiterating its ‘strongest condemnation against racism and violence and saying the club was acting against those involved ‘by banning them for life from our stadium’.
Also yesterday, Madrid police arrested another four men suspected of hanging an effigy wearing a Real Madrid shirt with Vinicius’ number on it from a bridge in January.
The dummy was hung by the neck from a highway bridge near Real Madrid’s training ground on January 26, ahead of their match against Atletico Madrid. Above it was a banner in Atletico’s red and white reading: ‘Madrid hates Real’.
Government Spokesperson Isabel Rodriquez welcomed the arrests, saying they showed Spanish authorities had ‘zero tolerance’ for racism in sports.
“We must clearly say we are anti-racists, Spain fights these behaviours, condemns them and does everything to eliminate them,” she added.
TURIN - Juventus have been docked 10 points in Serie A following a fresh investigation into their transfer dealings. The Old Lady were given a 15-point deduction earlier this season but later had that overturned. The new ruling in Italy’s highest sporting court drops them from second to seventh, five points off the Champions League spots.
Decided
Juve have responded with a statement which reads: “Juventus Football Club takes note of what was decided by the FIGC Court of Appeal and reserves the right to read the reasons to evaluate a possible appeal to the Guarantee Board at CONI.”
“What was established by the fifth instance of judgment in this matter, which began more than a year ago, arouses great bitterness in the club and in its millions of supporters who, in the absence of clear rules, find themselves extremely penalised with the application of sanctions that seem to take into account the principle of proportionality.