After tweet, Griezmann to get free pass
Discussions to make Antoine Griezmann one of soccer history’s most expensive signings were already underway when he started to daub on the blackface that ignited an Internet storm. Griezmann, the standout star of the French national team and Spanish club side Atletico Madrid, apparently thought it was a good idea last weekend to color his skin from head to toe, don an Afro wig and wear a 1980s basketball uniform for a costume party — then post about it to his 4.8 million Twitter followers. A pretty dumb move by any reasonable criteria, yet in the money-driven and often peculiar world of European soccer, one that will seemingly come with no negative repercussions whatsoever. Griezmann is the primary transfer target for Barcelona, winner of the Spanish title 24 times and, along with hated rival Real Madrid, one of the sport’s most glamorous organizations. You’d think that such antics might make Barca think twice, given its international reach and popularity, before parting with an estimated $120 million to procure his services from next summer onward, but no. As Griezmann attempted to backtrack from his controversial photo, the club was simultaneously leaking information that a switch was indeed in an advanced stage and moving closer to fruition. What timing. Griezmann has shown his outstandingly creative talent for Atletico for the last three years, and his folly comes at a point when a move to Barcelona could be the step that puts him on a global stage and enforces his position as one of the very best on the planet. As for his post, he first defended it, claiming it was a tribute to the Harlem Globetrotters. Later, he deleted the tweet and admitted it had been “awkward.” Griezmann should have known better, both because he is a player who has traveled around the world through the course of his career and the reality that so many of his friends and colleagues are minorities. Nine of the 13 players (including substitutes) that he played alongside for France in the final of the 2016 European Championships are black. Perhaps the greater disappointment is that the action apparently didn’t even cause Barcelona to pause for breath. Barcelona conjures an image of romance. The style of soccer the club plays is flowing, attacking and technically beautiful. In Lionel Messi, it has possibly the best player of not just this era but maybe of all time. The club’s place in the social and po- litical structure of Spain is significant. The Catalonia region of which the city of Barcelona is the capital wants to break away from Spain and seek independence, and the team’s soccer successes are treated with a pride that is proudly nationalistic. However, Barca is also as shrewd as it gets when it comes to finance, and once it has identified a player as central to its aspirations, there are few things that could be allowed to get in the way. Strange as it might seem, the controversy might even have helped things along. At the 2014 World Cup, Uruguay’s Luis Suarez was in disgrace after the latest of several biting incidents, having previously been suspended for racially abusing an opponent. He was a soccer pariah. Yet Barcelona waded in anyway, signing Suarez from Liverpool amid rumors that they’d gotten a slightly reduced price because of the ruckus. Maybe it will be the same with Griezmann. On a cultural note, it would be easy to say that in Europe blackface is not perceived and treated with as much sensitivity as it is in the USA. That might have been the case a couple of decades ago, but not anymore. The reaction has been strong and immediate, and Griezmann won’t be allowed to forget it in a hurry. However, the only way to truly send a message about such things is for him to suffer some kind of penalty as a result, and there is no sign of that happening. Griezmann’s protection lies in his soccer ability and his potential to transform even a team as great as Barcelona. That, and the fact Barcelona desperately wants him, seems to have been enough to get him a free pass.