In the fiercely territorial world of Italian soccer
This should be the best of times for Italian football.
Juventus reached their second Champions League final in three years on Tuesday evening, new investors are promising a revival of AC Milan and Serie A is casting off its reputation for sterile defensive fare.
But the renaissance risks being clouded by reminders of football’s dark ages: the spectre of racism has returned to haunt the national sport.
Ten days after Ghanaian midfielder Sulley Muntari walked off in disgust after being racially abused during a match at Cagliari, the fans responsible have still not been identified and no action has been taken against the Sardinian club.
Muntari, in contrast, was sanctioned, after failing to persuade the referee to suspend the match.
Remonstrating with the fans earned him a first yellow card; walking off in frustration a while later got him a second and a sending-off, leading to an automatic one-match ban.
An outcry spearheaded by the international players’ union and the United Nations human rights agency got the ban overturned on appeal.
Muntari has subsequently sought to highlight his treatment in interviews, protesting at “being made to feel like a criminal” while the game’s governing bodies sit on their hands.
The spotlight on Italian football brightened after Juventus’s Moroccan defender, Medhi Benatia, cut short a TV interview over the weekend after reportedly hearing someone in production describing him in racially derogatory terms.
Italian football cannot be blamed for that incident. But sociologist and writer Mauro Valeri believes the racism problem is only partly about sport reflecting the outside world.
“What happened with Muntari is a very important episode. But only because he reacted. Sadly, this kind of thing is all too common,” Valeri said.
“And it is not just Serie A and B. In junior football there have been 80 registered cases of black players being abused in the last two years. Usually by parents of their opponents and almost invariably nothing is done about it.”
The Muntari abuse was the latest in a string of cases of black players being verbally attacked from the stands.
Serie A has sanctions procedures but the criteria for applying them (such as the whole stadium must be able to hear the abuse) means they are hardly ever used.
“It is just ridiculous,” said Valeri. “The result is racism is never punished.”
Another problem is that, although Italy has strong legislation covering racial abuse, the law requires positive identification of the individuals involved, and clubs cannot be held responsible for failing to identify perpetrators.
Valeri says clubs fear alienating their most hardcore fans, even if they have extremist or even criminal affiliations. Broader cultural and political influences also shape attitudes.
“Within Italian football there is no antiracism movement and other antiracism associations don’t take any interest in football,” said Valeri.
This leaves anyone who takes a stand isolated, as happened to the country’s most prominent black player, Mario Balotelli, he argued.
“Balotelli had to endure endless abuse but he never had any kind of support in trying to stop it,” said Valeri.
“In Italy, antiracism is not everyone’s battle. If you say you are against racism, you risk people saying maybe you’re a communist.”
Mainstream Italian politicians are reluctant to take a stand for fear of being seen as not appreciating voters’ worries about the arrival of more than half a million mainly African migrants in three years.
“Today, talking about racism means losing votes,” said Valeri.
Within football, suggesting Italy could learn from neighbouring countries seems to raise hackles.
“I don’t believe it is just an Italian problem; it’s global,” Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini said.
Sebastian Louis, a French expert on fan culture, said the recent incidents should not be downplayed but argues that Italy is changing.
“You have to remember that in 1996, in a Verona derby, a black mannequin was brandished with a noose around its neck by two supporters wearing Ku Klux Klan hoods.
“Throughout the 1980s there were extreme right symbols in numerous stadiums, racist attacks outside them. The situation has evolved.” — AFP