BUCHAREST: While the dust still rises on the night of the racist football accusations in Paris, the lines of war are emerging in Romania, the home of the fourth official whose use of the word “negru” led a player to leave the area. Basaksehir’s Champions League fit into opposition. to Paris Saint Germain.
While some that Sebastian Coltescu and the comments he made are the product of a linguistic misunderstanding, others that it is simply emblematic of a society plagued by racism and homophobia. That is what happened. In the 14th minute of Tuesday’s game, a fight broke out on the bench over allegations that Coltescu had described Basaksehir’s Cameroonian assistant coach, Pierre Webo, as ‘negru’, the Romanian for ‘black’. “It’s black there,” he said.
It has a key component of the debate, the one that prompted Basaksehir’s Senegalese forward Demba Ba to scold the referee in English. “When you communicate about a white guy, you never say ‘that white guy’, you just say ‘that guy’, so why when you mention a black guy you say ‘that black guy?” The players left, returning the following day with another set of referees to end the match, since Roguyian athletes, sociologists and linguists have analyzed each and every word in all its facets with all nuances.
In Bucharest, there are many voices calling for patience until the UEFA governing body publishes its findings. On social media, however, there is a widespread complaint from the European football government and double weight advice to react when Romanian athletes have been classified as “gypsies”, a pejorative term for Roma. But the president of the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) Razvan Burleanu is firm. “These words have no place in a stadium,” he said. The same is the case with Sports Minister Ionut Stroe, who temporarily presented his “apologies at the call for Romanian sports. “
In the local media, however, the criticisms are mixed. “In Romanian, to say that he is black (‘negru’) is not an offense, but a reference to the color of his skin, just a clarification,” said veteran sports journalist Ovidiu Ioanitoaia. His young colleague Theodor Jumatate, however, has another point of view. “It is the ultimate brutal expression of racism, the very essence of humiliation,” he says. The president of the Council for the Fight Against Discrimination (CNCD), Csaba Asztalos, stressed that “sport, and football in particular, cannot be immune to this very important scourge of Romanian society. “
“Laxity” Asztalos gets used to such questions with other incidents of enthusiasts mimicking the songs of monkeys or throwing a banana at a Brazilian player. In an interview with AFP, he denounced the “laxity” of the clubs and the Romanian Professional Football League (LPF). In neighboring Bulgaria, the incidents marked a Euro 2020 qualifying match opposite England in October 2019. The resulting consequences led Bulgarian coach Krasimir Balakov to resign along with the country’s FA chief Borislav Mihaylov.
Several Bulgarian clubs, as well as the national team, had already been sanctioned by UEFA for “racist behavior” in the stands. In 2014, Levski Sofia supporters blatantly defied a crusade through the European framework by dismantling a banner proclaiming “Say ‘yes’ to racism. ” Also in the Balkans, the noises of the monkeys and the racist chants have continually caused the Croatian, Serbian and Montenegrin federations to be fined and the games of chance closed for the respective national teams.
If the Croatian federation condemns such behavior, infrequently accompanied by Nazi songs, it also completely rejects the duty of the “hooligans”. In 2012, Belgrade was the scene of a massive brawl following a Euro U21 qualifying match between Serbia and England. The Serbian fans, who sang the English monkey Danny Rose, took to the pitch as the players and the control of both groups exchanged insults and blows.
Roma targeted In Romania, analysts say the main targets of hate speech are Roma. Gelu Duminica, a sociologist of the Roma minority, is enraged when his supporters shout “Death to the Gypsies” or raise banners in tribute to the pro-Nazi Marshal Ion Antonescu, who advocated for the “final solution” (extermination) of the Second World War Roma
According to Duminica, the sanctions imposed through UEFA, largely fines and matches behind closed doors, have partially served their purpose, as fans “are beginning to worry about the sanctions. ” “But coercion alone does not solve the challenge as long as it is not coupled or preceded by schooling in the subject,” he told AFP. Bulgaria, like other countries in the region, has tightened sanctions against hooligans, now subject to fines of up to 2,500 euros and 25 days in detention. Asztalos says that Romania, for its part, has “made efforts” to combat racism “but there is still a long way to go”. – AFP