Soccer is known as the “Beautiful Game”, but it faces one prominent enemy that consistently kicks it in the face.
Racism.
On Sunday it reared its ugly face again, this time in a La Liga clash between Valencia FC and Cadiz. In the game’s 29th minute, the score was tied 1-1. That’s when Valencia defender Mouctar Diakhaby got into an altercation with Cadiz’s Juan Cala. According to Diakhaby, things got ugly and he was subjected to racist taunts from Cala. To add insult to injury, Diakhaby received a yellow card during the stoppage in play, the referee turning a deaf ear to his pleas for action.
Well, his team had his back. Since the ref refused to act, they did. As their emotional and humiliated defender walked off the field, his entire team followed him right off the pitch in a show of solidarity.
“[Diakhaby] told us he insulted him in a racist way.” said Valencia captain José Luis Gayà.
The game was stopped for 20 minutes until Valencia returned to the field, but only because Dialhaby urged them to do it so they wouldn’t be penalized. He remained in the locker room, replaced by Hugo Guillamon. Ultimately, they lost to Cadiz, 2-1.
But the message sent by the entire Valencia soccer organization gave them the win.
“The incident happened in the first half.” wrote team coach Javi Gracia in a statement after the game. “Diakhaby was really upset and we learned that he had been seriously racially insulted. He was quite agitated. When he told us about the insult, we told the referee that we did not agree (with that being said) and that we were withdrawing from the game. In the dressing room we were told that we would receive a sanction if we did not return to the pitch, and so we spoke with Diakhaby about how he felt. He told us that he did not feel that he could play, but that he understood that we should continue playing because of the possible sanction, and so we went back out with the intention of winning -with one more reason to fight for it. The referee was not aware of what had happened and had not heard anything. Faced with this situation, he was forced to make the game continue. We are very sad about this situation and we wish to take the opportunity to condemn racism.”
“What worried me the most was the state of my player,” continued Gracia. “If he had told us that he did not think we should play, we would not have played — at the risk of whatever would have happened. When he said to go back out, I was forced to make the decision to continue playing. We returned with Diakhaby’s shirt on the bench and with the intention of dedicating the victory to him.”
These incidents mar the global sport of soccer.
Despite its worldwide appeal, it continues to harbor racism across the pitch. In December, both Paris Saint-Germain and their opponent, Istanbul Basaksehir, walked off the field during their Champions League Group H game after a verbal altercation between referees and the Turkish team was deemed racist by the latter.
In recent years, soccer has experienced bananas thrown on the field, racist taunts from fans on and off the pitch, and players literally crying after being emotionally drained by vicious, disgusting language.
Fortunately for Black and brown players, players and teams like Valencia aren’t taking it anymore.
“We support you Mouctar. No to racism.” tweeted the team after the incident.
“It’s lamentable that this kind of thing is still happening in football, and a solution has to be put in place,” said Gayà.
He’s 1000% correct.
Unfortunately, the ugliness of racism maimed the Beautiful Game once again.
