Uruguayan players back Cavani over racism ban
URUGUAYAN footballers have accused the English Football Association of racism in sanctioning Manchester United’s Edinson Cavani over an Instagram post which contained the Spanish word “Negrito”, and have called for his three-match ban to be overturned.
A strong statement by the Uruguayan Football Players Association (AFU) condemned the FA’S “truly discriminatory and racist act” to hand Cavani a suspension for “merely using a common expression in Latin America to affectionately address a loved one or close friend”.
Cavani used the word in a post responding to a friend, who often goes by the nickname “negrito”. The 33-year-old Uruguay international accepted the FA’S charge out of respect for their fight against racism in football, but disagreed with the point of view that his post was offensive.
As well as being suspended for three matches, Cavani was also fined £100,000 and ordered to complete a two-hour face-toface online education course on racism.
The AFU continued: “We would like to publicly defend Edinson Cavani’s impeccable character and, of course, our country’s culture. We are all against any kind of discrimination; however unfortunately, through its sanction, the English Football Association expresses absolute ignorance and disdain for a multicultural vision of the world, respectful of its plurality, by erroneously, unilaterally and rigidly imposing its anti-racist rules, the basis of which we support but are obviously not realistically applicable to the case in question here.”
Atletico Madrid’s Luis Suarez and the national captain Diogo Godin were among a number of high-profile Uruguayan players to share the statement on social media. In 2011, the then Liverpool striker Suarez was banned for eight games by the FA for using the same word towards Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.
Meanwhile, former United midfielder Darren Fletcher has been appointed to the club’s firstteam coaching staff.
The ex-scotland captain came through the youth ranks at United before making over 300 firstteam appearances and helping the club win a host of honours.
He moved to West Brom in 2015, temporarily ending a 20year association at United, and finished his playing career at Stoke but returned to Old Trafford last October to take up a coaching role with the Under-16s at the club. The 36-year-old will now step up to help with firstteam duties on a full-time basis.