"When you want to go, you go"

This was the response of Real Zaragoza's captain, Luis Carlos Cuartero, to Samuel Eto'o's attempts to leave the pitch after being subjected to racists taunts by Zaragoza fans on Saturday.

El País reports that

As soccer players from around the world asked for concerted action against abuse directed at black players by racist spectators, Real Zaragoza captain Luis Carlos Cuartero criticized on Wednesday the decision to fine his club after Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o was jeered last weekend. Soccer’s disciplinary committee announced late on Tuesday evening that it would be fining Real Zaragoza €9,000 for last Saturday’s incidents, which led to Eto’o threatening to leave the field of play in the La Romareda stadium after having so-called “monkey chants” directed at him. “Over the top,” was Cuartero’s view of the fine.

As other reporters have noted, Saturday's events are hardly a rare occurance in Zaragoza. While such vicious and open racism does occur at many grounds accross Spain, Zaragoza is renowned as one of the worst. Last year, club supporters threw bananas at Eto'o.

Nick wrote to the Observer Sports Monthly last year to comment on what he felt was an imbalanced view of Spanish racism in the British press. I disagree with him on this issue because I do believe that there is much more open, institutional and socially acceptable racism here. Don't get me wrong: it's nowhere near as bad as Australia (my cousin has had 'Paki' shouted at her from passing cars on some of the smartest streets in Canberra), but racism is a bigger problem in Spain than it is in the UK.

Eto'o himself has recommended much tougher penalties (closing the Zaragoza stadium for a year), which some will claim are way over the top. But until people learn that if you shout racist abuse at people, you will be severely punished for it, then it will carry on.

Real Zaragoza, their management, players and now captain clearly don't care. As far as they're concerned, Eto'o should take it like a man or leave. I say close the stadium. Keep them out of Europe for two years (not sure if that will really affect them much), ban their fans from games and force them to play behind closed doors, with no revenue, until they can control the racist scum who support them (many reports stated that much of the stadium took part in the chanting). And if la Liga isn't willing to enforce the rules, then they should be fined. 'A little bit of racism' is never acceptable, and some thugs clearly need this hammered into them.

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March 2, 2006 | Catalonia, Politics, Spain 

Comments

2 Responses to “"When you want to go, you go"”

  1. Nick on March 2nd, 2006 3:29 pm

    Cuartero's comment, like the paltry fine, is simply offensive and I hope that the Barca fans give him a piece of their mind the next time he plays in the Nou Camp. The Zaragoza stadium should be closed for a at least a few home matches in my opinion. As regards what I said in the Observer letter, I don't deny that racism towards black people is far worse here than in the UK. In fact, I said as much in the letter saying that the problem is a matter of demographics – blacks simply feature in far less numbers here than South Americans and other immigrant groups. As more Africans become a more substantial part of Spanish society, the racism will no doubt decrease. Let's remember that similar treatment to what Eto'o was subjected to was seen in British grounds for years during the 1970's and 80's. The point of the letter was to say that its a bit sensationalist of the The Observer to make out that Spain is a couldron of racism when politically, its borders are far more open to immigration than Britain's at the moment.

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  2. Tom on March 3rd, 2006 5:26 pm

    There are plenty of North Africans here, and they're hardly immune from racsim. I don't buy the "it'll sort itself out" argument.

    There doesn't seem to be any effort on the part of government or society to solve this problem.

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