Seven people have been punished for racist abuse against Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr. Before Real’s Cup match against Atletico Madrid on January 26, four men hung a banner reading “Madrid hates Real” and an inflatable black effigy wearing Vinicius’ No. 20 shirt near the team’s facilities. They were fined €60,000 (£51,700) and banned from sporting venues for two years. While watching a La Liga game at Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium on May 21, three other spectators made racial gestures at the Brazil international. As a result, they were each fined €5,000 (£4,300) and given a 12-month sports stadium ban.
11 days have passed since the four guys were arrested on suspicion of hanging the effigy and released on bail by a Madrid court. Since declaring La Liga and Spain racist in response to the abuse he received during Real Madrid’s match against Valencia, Vinicius Jr. has been in the news frequently. Since then, the 22-year-old has received support from the athletic community, and the Brazilian government has demanded harsh punishment for those behind the racial epithets. As part of an anti-racism campaign, Brazil will play friendlies against Guinea on June 17 and Senegal three days later.
Following an appeal for the racial abuse of Vinicius by supporters, Valencia had their partial stadium closure lowered to three matches and their punishment to €27,000 (£23,500). Valencia’s appeal has been “partially upheld,” according to the statement made by the Spanish Football Federation appeals committee. It implies that a punishment that was originally €45,000 (£39,000) has been lowered by €18,000, resulting in a reduction of the Mestalla Stadium’s partial closure from five matches. In the second half of Real Madrid’s LaLiga match against Valencia on Sunday, Vinicius allegedly threatened to leave the pitch after hearing alleged racist chants from the crowd. Real Madrid later reported the incident as a “hate crime” to the Spanish State Attorney General’s Office.
Valencia had ten business days to appeal to the committee. After Sunday’s game, La Liga players and officials demanded that racism be addressed in Spain. Real Valladolid and Barcelona, and Celta Vigo and Girona players and officials stood in front of banners that said “Racism, out of football” prior to their respective matches on Tuesday night. After getting dismissed at Valencia, Vinicius was scheduled to serve a two- or three-match suspension. However, Spain’s competition committee, which is made up of one representative from LaLiga, one from the Spanish Sports Council (CSD), and one from the RFEF (Spanish FA), has overturned that dismissal.
In the meanwhile, LaLiga declared it would ask for further authority to penalise teams whose supporters engaged in racial taunting after feeling “powerless” about the absence of existing punishments in the aftermath of the most recent Vinicius incident. La Liga can now only detect and report events in accordance with local legislation, and punishment is seldom meted out. On Tuesday, four persons were detained in Spain on suspicion of tossing a Vinicius effigy down a bridge in January. ‘Madrid hates Real Madrid’ was written on a banner that was hanging from the railings prior to Real’s Copa del Rey match against Atletico at the beginning of the year. The inflatable doll was wearing a Vinicius jersey.
“The capability to perform additional tasks is what we seek. We are confident that given the power, this would be resolved in a matter of months,” La Liga President Javier Tebas said after Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr suffered racial abuse. “We are following the legal path, and in six months, I believe this will have stopped, making us the finest league in the world. The skills we want pertain to those unacceptable traits, such as racism and homophobia. If we are given the skills, we can stop this because it is simpler to stop than financial management. We have been able to have economic control to prevent our clubs from going bankrupt.”
After the abuse, Vinicius Junior denounced both Spain and LaLiga, pointing out “continuous episodes across several cities” and asserting that LaLiga “belongs to the racists.” At a press conference on Thursday, Tebas lamented that the league’s hands were restricted by legislation, meaning LaLiga can presently only identify and record occurrences and punishment is seldom carried out. Tebas had already apologised for his abrasive response to Vinicius on social media.
For more football news, click here
