Racism in soccer is a deep and dark issue. While anti-racism campaigns and several penalties for fans exist, reports of racism at soccer events remain all to common. As the issue continues to persist, all levels of the sport, from players to governing bodies, continue to be deeply affected.
Italy in particular has a long history of soccer racism. In 2012, Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport published a cartoon depicting Italian striker Mario Balotelli as King Kong. In 2014, Italian club Atalanta were fined 40,000 euros after fans threw bananas at two Black players during a match against AC Milan. Fans of Lazio, a club with long-standing ties to Italy's political far-right, were filmed giving Nazi salutes at an away game in Glasgow, Scotland in 2019. However, even players have been found culpable of racist actions. Juventus was forced to apologize in 2021 after they posted images of their women's team mocking Asian individuals.
Roc Nation Takes A Stand
On Tuesday night, a Coppa Italia semi-final between Juventus and Inter Milan ended in chaos. Inter Milan, trailing 1-0, was awarded a 95th-minute penalty, which Romelu Lukaku calmly converted. Afterwards, Juventus began to direct monkey noises at Lukaku. When the Black striker, who has a long history of receiving racist abuse, responded angrily, he was sent off. Lukaku calmly slotted home the equalizier, Juventus fans began to make monkey noises at the Black player. Furthermore, Lukaku's equalizer led to an additional two red cards issue after the final whistle.
On Wednesday morning, Roc Nation, the entertainment agency founded by Jay-Z, took out a full-page ad in La Gazzetta dello Sport. The ad, titled "Enough is Enough" lambasted Italian sports culture, calling on them to "Do Better. Want Better. Be Better." in response to the Lukaku incident and others. Furthermore, the ad went on to "call on the worldwide community of sports" to better tackle the issue of racism. It is a powerful statement from one of the biggest entertianment agencies. Additionally, there was an added layer to the ad as La Gazzetta dello Sport was the same paper that published a racist carton of Mario Balotelli a decade ago. With Roc Nation joining the fight against racism in soccer, perhaps bigger steps will now be taken to combatting the issue.
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