I opened the gift bag and inside was a rotten banana ... I could not speak. I was so angry
In his first interview since a shocking racist incident, Italy star Cherif Traore reveals the emotional toll it has taken
PARKED outside Cherif Traore’s apartment on the outskirts of Treviso, a uniformed officer approaches the car and peers through the window. It is the middle of the afternoon, blue skies in a sleepy suburb where nothing much seems to happen.
Traore’s childhood friend is sitting in the driver’s seat. Young, black, well-dressed and successful enough to own a customised Mercedes sportscar. The officer asks to see some form of documentation.
It feels unnecessary and provocative. Traore challenges the interrogator, clearly angered by the unwarranted intrusion.
A couple of cars stop to see what the commotion is about. No one really knows. When the second officer notices Traore is an Italian rugby star, he steps in to defuse the situation. ‘Cherif! Cherif!’ They move along. Nothing to see here. No drugs or guns in the car, don’t worry.
‘They see a black guy in a nice car and they ask questions,’ mutters Traore’s friend.
Back at his apartment, Traore sits down at the kitchen table and recalls similar incidents of discrimination. Ironically, he is here to talk about his experiences of racism in rugby. He was presented with a rotten banana during a Secret Santa event at his club — and here at home is facing racism on his own doorstep.
‘On one occasion, I turned on the engine and a police car drove up behind to block me in,’ says Traore. ‘It was on the way home from training. Two officers jumped out and one was pointing his torch. They bombarded me with questions: “Whose car is this? What job do you do? Where are you going? If you don’t answer these questions we’ll take you to court”.
‘They were rifling through my car, wanting to see what I had in the boot. People were standing filming it on their phones.’
Born in Guinea, Traore grew up in the city of Kindia, along with his three siblings and a huge number of cousins.
‘It was a wonderful life there,’ says the 27-year-old, breaking into a huge grin. ’My grandad had five wives and 42 children! He had properties, companies, a factory, a dairy farm. He was a successful businessman who looked after the family.
‘I had a very close relationship with my grandad. He would take me to the mosque, take me on trips away. I was obsessed with him. We came to Italy when he passed away. My father moved first and we followed. I was seven years old.’
Italy became Traore’s home. Like many Italians, football was his first love. He looked up to his older brother, Mohamed, who was signed by Parma in Serie A at the age of 17.
‘My brother played under Francesco Guidolin. He was in the same squad as Hernan Crespo but he got injured and went on loan to Serie B. Eventually he had to stop because of the injuries.’
Traore went on to join his local rugby club, where a coach told him he had the potential to become Italy’s first black prop. His prediction was right and Traore earned his first cap in 2018. ‘It was always a dream to play for my country,’ he says.
His last cap was in July but he was left out of this year’s Six Nations squad, meaning he is free to have this conversation away from the gaze of his club’s spin doctors. He acknowledges improvements in the diversity of the national team but his enthusiasm wanes when he recalls the deeply shocking incident at his club two months ago.
‘Rugby my job, it’s my life, it’s all I have, it’s what I do. I was angry,’ he says, as his emotions begin to take over. ‘This isn’t an example for young people. More than anything, my overwhelming feeling was one of disappointment.
‘It wasn’t nice. It wasn’t easy for me to accept. There were lots of people in the room. The gifts were being passed around and I waited my turn. It was in a gift bag. Everyone was taking out their present and then they had to tell the room what it was.
‘I opened mine to find the banana and I just couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I couldn’t look left, right or ahead.
‘The person sitting next to me told the room what it was. My eyes were getting red and itchy, I was getting angry. More than anything else I just wanted to leave. I just wanted to get up and go home but I just stayed out of respect for everyone else. The Christmas sack finished going around the room and then I went home.
‘I was on my own. I didn’t want to see anyone, I didn’t want to speak to anyone. I was so angry. It kept going through my mind. I couldn’t sleep, tossing and turning because I was so upset.’
The following day, Traore decided to post his account of events on Instagram. Why? ‘If I hadn’t spoken out about it, the guys could have just come in the next day and joked about it. The next week, the next month… “Oh wasn’t that funny?” I wanted to speak out.
‘Everyone always says it’s banter, a joke. Don’t get me wrong, I like having a joke but what happened was just too much. You can’t normalise things like that. It’s not normal. It’s like they think you’re stupid, so they can say anything they want and get away with it because it’s just a joke.’
The incident rocked Italian rugby. His club seemingly tried to brush it under the carpet, recording a video with Traore for their social-media page, but this was subsequently deleted. He politely declines to comment on that process, with an ongoing investigation launched under huge public pressure.
While Traore would love to resume his international career and has nothing but praise for the support afforded him by Italy coach Kieran Crowley, he will be just another interested observer at Twickenham today as this impressive Azzurri side attempt to catch the eye again.
It will be a really challenging game for Italy,’ says Traore. ‘England want to get back on track, so they will be hungry for victory, but Italy will be even hungrier. We are developing as a team. A win at Twickenham would be fantastic.’
Traore grimaces in frustration when he talks about racism, his words speeding up as if they have been waiting for their release. But his smile returns when he talks about rugby in its purest form.
He does, however, sign off with one closing message: ‘Society is changing for the better. Certain things have changed. I hope that what I did is convey a message to everyone, not just people in sport. There are certain things you can’t joke about.
‘Regardless of the colour of our skin, we are all the same. That’s my main message.’