Pablo Matera gave two long interviews, in front of Isabelle Ithurburu's microphone for Canal + and Richard Escot's pen for
L'Equipe
, to return to the controversy following the exhumation of old tweets with racist and xenophobic connotations.
The third-row beats his ass, speaks of shame, assures that he has changed and tells of his repentance in front of his Parisian teammates.
Extracts.
️ "I know it will be harder for some to accept my apologies. I know I'm going to have to live with this."
Pumas captain Pablo Matera speaks for the first time in the #CRC regarding his racist and discriminatory Tweets.
pic.twitter.com/KerTw7iifa
- Canal Rugby Club (@CanalRugbyClub) December 20, 2020
Shame and repentance
“There are a lot of people who felt offended, hurt and I would like to ask their forgiveness.
I want them to know that I don't mean any of these words, that they don't represent my values in any way.
(…) But the most important thing for me today is to know that I made a mistake, I know that I will make others in my life.
But what I will not accept is to commit the same twice.
Today, I just have to ask forgiveness and move on.
(…) When the tweets came to the surface, I went to look at everything I had written, and even those that had no connotation made me ashamed.
I saw how immature I was.
But also I realized how much I had matured since, how I had changed, what I had become.
I had left all of that behind me and I was able to appreciate how far I had come since that time. ”
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The context of tweets
“In Argentina, at the time, we young people did not pay particular attention to the concept of racism, unlike other countries such as France or England, for example.
No doubt because there is not so much diversity among us where the weight, meaning and interpretation of words are not the same.
We were immature kids, we watched a lot of TV where some of the most famous personalities were swinging the valves.
Suddenly, unfortunately, it seemed normal to us, we wanted to imitate them, we thought we were funny, nobody had warned us, and we made the mistake of thinking that we could joke about this subject.
(…) Twitter was a way to send messages to friends, to tell jokes.
Among the many messages we sent each other, we also made jokes in bad taste.
It must be said that in Argentina, the words I used have a very different meaning.
Unfortunately in my country they are used a lot ... Even if they do not have a racist connotation, there are still words that should not be said.
So I'm not proud, even rather ashamed of what I wrote at the time.
These are unacceptable comments. ”
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The consequences on his family
“No one knew these tweets existed.
And obviously for my family it was something very violent.
My mother has received a lot of messages.
My wife too, on social media, with pictures of my son ... They received a lot of malicious messages that they did not deserve to receive.
That's what made me suffer the most, to have them involuntarily involved in this horrible situation.
That, in addition to adding to the feeling of shame, hurts me a lot.
“
I was having trouble breathing.
It was burning me inside.
But it had to come out
"
In front of its partners at Stade Français Paris
“From the start of the controversy, Thomas (
Lombard, the CEO
) and Gonzalo (
Quesada, the Parisian manager
) called me on the phone.
They wanted to hear from me before passing any judgment or sanctioning me.
They explained to me that what was going to follow, within the club, was going to be difficult but that as soon as I arrived in Paris, that is to say Monday morning (
last Monday, Editor's note
), we had to meet again everyone in the locker room, not just the players, but all the staff as well.
Even though he's tall, the locker room was packed.
I felt a fireball in my stomach, I had difficulty breathing.
It was burning me inside.
But it had to come out.
I explained myself in English in front of everyone, and without protocol, with as much sincerity as possible.
What I perceived was that everyone was struck in a different way by what I had written.
Some took the floor to express their feelings, which was very positive.
I thought it would be difficult for them to listen to me, to hear me, but it wasn't.
I was also able to discuss one-to-one with some of my teammates. ”
A task to carry and to assume
“I will definitely find myself in difficult situations in the future.
Some will give me comments, but I will have to accept it and not react.
I know it will be harder for some to accept my apologies.
I know I'm going to have to live with this. "
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