January 02, (THEWILL) – Vinicius Junior and La Liga President, Javier Tebas, have clashed over the league’s response to racism after the Brazilian footballer was subjected to more abuse during Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over Real Valladolid on Friday.
Vinicius was filmed responding to taunts and objects being thrown at him after being substituted in the match at the Estadio Jose Zorrilla. This is the fourth time in the past 15 months that Vinicius has experienced racial abuse, with incidents also taking place in matches against Barcelona, Real Mallorca, and Atletico Madrid. To date, none of these incidents resulted in a prosecution despite complaints being filed to the prosecutor’s office.
In response to the latest incident, Vinicius took to Twitter to express his frustration, saying: “Racists continue to go to stadiums and watch the biggest club in the world up close and La Liga continues to do nothing… I will continue with my head held high and celebrating my victories and those of Madrid. In the end, it’s MY fault.”
La Liga President, Tebas disputed Vinicius’ claims and tweeted in response: “At La Liga, we have been fighting RACISM for years… it is not true to publish that ‘La Liga does nothing against racism’… We are at your disposal so that ALL TOGETHER, we can go in the same direction.”
The league later released an official statement on the incident, which stated that “La Liga has detected racist insults from the stands of the Zorrilla stadium, published on social networks… These facts will be reported to the Anti-Violence Commission and the Public Prosecutor’s Office for hate crimes, as has been done on other occasions.”
The statement went on to highlight six incidents of racist abuse in La Liga games that have been dealt with by the league’s governing body, but none of these incidents has resulted in a prosecution.
Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams has also been a victim of racist abuse in recent months, following a match against Real Betis in March. Despite the incident being referred to the Seville Hate Prosecutor’s Office, no charges were brought against the individual involved because it was “clear that he is not a person who intends to incite racism.”
In a similar case involving Vinicius, the Madrid prosecutor determined that the actions of Atletico Madrid fans were “unpleasant and disrespectful,” but “they only lasted a few seconds” and were “in the context of football rivalry.”
Despite these incidents, La Liga concluded its statement by saying: “La Liga will continue to lead the fight against the scourge that is violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport, not only with words but also with deeds, as demonstrated by the actions that have been exposed.”
