October 21 – Racism has once more marred Italian football. This time Sampdoria and England U-21 midfielder Ronaldo Vieira was the target of monkey chants from AS Roma fans.
This weekend thousands marched in the Italian capital in a far-right rally in which Matteo Salvini’s League joined other right wing parties in an ‘Italian pride’ protest, evoking memories of the “march on Rome” held on 27 October 1922 that marked dictator Benito Mussolini’s rise to power.
The march had a racist and fascist undertone and in Italian football racism remains endemic as well. On Sunday, youngster Vieira was the target of Roma fans during his club’s 0-0 draw in Serie A.
Monkey chants emanated from the visiting fans and Roma later apologized in a tweet, writing that “AS Roma would like to apologise to Ronaldo Vieira for the racist boos he was subjected to. Roma does not tolerate racism of any kind and the club will support the authorities in identifying and subsequently banning any individuals found guilty of racially abusing the midfielder.”
“I heard it but I don’t want to talk about it,” Vieira told Italian TV. “This happens too often, it shouldn’t be this way.”
Vieiri was born in Guinea-Bissau, but at a young age moved to England where he joined Leeds United.
The incident is the latest in a series of racially motivated abuse cases that have cast a dark shadow over the Italian game with local authorities and football administrators reluctant to act.
In a previous game Fiorentina’s Brazilian defender Dalbert said he had been racially abused by Atalanta fans and the match was briefly halted. AS Roma banned a fan for life for racially abusing their own defender Juan Jesus on social media.
The most high-profile incident occurred earlier in the season when Inter Milan’s marquee signing Romelu Lukaku was abused by Cagliari fans who were later cleared from racist chanting. It was the third time the club had been investigated for racism and the third time that Cagliari got off all too lightly.
“Social media platforms [Instagram, Twitter, Facebook …] need to work better as well with football clubs because everyday you see at least a racist comment under a post of a person of colour,” said Lukaku. “We’ve been saying it for years and still no action. Ladies and gentlemen it’s 2019. Instead of going forward we’re going backwards and I think as players we need to unify and make a statement on this matter to keep this game clean and enjoyable for everyone.”
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1714913233labto1714913233ofdlr1714913233owedi1714913233sni@o1714913233fni1714913233