Football is much more than a sport, and perhaps no club better embodies this fact than FC Barcelona. Mes Que Un Club, which translates to ‘More than a club’, is the motto that the Catalan club lives and breathes by. However, even for institutions like FC Barcelona, there are some things that are intolerable in football.
One such issue is the ever-present problem of racism which seems to strike towards certain players more so than others. This global issue, one that is also quite regularly found to be a problem in football games, has no place in the sport and it simply cannot be tolerated.
Speaking about this particular issue in a recent interview, Barcelona captain and Brazilian forward Raphinha addressed the controversy surrounding Real Madrid compatriot Vinicius Junior and his fight against racism, as well as the things that were hurled at his club teammates during the recent El Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu.
As highlighted by Mundo Deportivo, the 27-year-old forward came out in defense of his Brazilian teammate and why this particular issue is a rather sensitive one for the Real Madrid star:
“We don’t know what he went through in his childhood. We don’t know the things he heard when he was young. These things push people to their limits, and it bothers him a lot.”
“Vinicius is a very cheerful guy, always joking around. This is the only issue that really gets to him, and I understand his frustration. But I’m not in his situation, so I can’t say what I would do in his place.”
He also chose to highlight the kind of insults that come towards the players and how, no matter how much one anticipates it, some words are a step too far for any player despite everyone having different levels of tolerance towards such insults:
“We’ve already talked about it; each person is different. Of course, it bothers you; we’re just doing our job. We know the other team’s fans may try anything to make things go wrong for you, and we need to stay focused, but when they insult you and those insults go further, it becomes more complicated.”
The Barcelona captain also stated that young players like Ansu Fati and Lamine Yamal also had to endure such crass insults being thrown at them, and it understandably impacts some players more than others:
“I spoke with Ansu afterward, and he told us what had happened to him. He was more upset. With Lamine, we heard people saying things to us, but we didn’t fully understand what they were saying. But Ansu understood it. After the game, we watched the videos and realized what had been said to us.”
However, while Raphinha did say that these things have to be ignored during games so that focus can be maintained, he mentioned that the right kind of authorities and actions have to be involved after the game concludes:
“What we can do after the games, we do afterward. During the game, we have to stay focused. Many people think it’s normal to go to the stadiums to shout insults. That shouldn’t be normalized. Someone with more authority needs to take action.”
For both Barcelona and Real Madrid, this remains an issue that every major club remains united against. Unfortunately, however, the battle against racism will be a long and hard one, and it will take something truly beyond the scope of normal procedures to eradicate it as much as possible from the world of football.
