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Javier Tebas: "If they give us competitions, in six months we will end racist insults in stadiums"

2023-05-25T21:19:57.458Z

Highlights: Javier Tebas says he has been accused of being racist and it affects him. The president of the League has insisted on the need to have tools to sanction racist behavior and is in favor of the loss of points. Tebas also revealed that LaLiga has had to contact its sponsors to explain all the actions, judicial and promotional, to fight against racism carried out by the entity it presides. The Vinicius case has provoked reactions even in the U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.


The president of the League has insisted on the need to have tools to sanction racist behavior and is in favor of the loss of points


"These last days have not been my best days as president of LaLiga, I have been accused of being racist and it affects me," Javier Tebas admitted on Thursday in the middle of an auditorium packed with national and international press. The worldwide uproar caused by the racist insults that Vinicius Junior received last Sunday in Mestalla and the subsequent and questioned confrontation of the president of the employer with the Real Madrid player on social networks crowded with journalists and graphic editors on the ground floor of the LaLiga headquarters.

By telematic means, about thirty Brazilian media followed the appearance and waited their turn to ask. The unpleasant episode experienced by Vinicius has transmitted doubts in Brazil and in the international community about how racism is combated in Spanish football. The external image of LaLiga and Spain have been very touched after the incidents in Valencia.

The laxity transmitted to the world and the damage caused has led LaLiga to request sanctioning powers and even the need to raise whether punishments should include the loss of points to clubs whose fans incur in racist acts. "It would be good to start thinking about the issue of points and introduce it. With the current regime it cannot be done, only in case of improper alignments. That is why we ask for competitions, because against this you do not fight a day or two, you always have to fight, "warned Tebas.

Given the reputational damage suffered, Tebas also revealed that LaLiga has had to contact its sponsors to explain all the actions, judicial and promotional, to fight against racism carried out by the entity it presides. The Vinicius case has provoked reactions even in the US White House. "We condemn racism around the world, wherever it occurs, including in sports, and applaud any effort to bring it to light and fight it. The chants were horrible. I call on organizers of sporting events to put in place strategies to prevent racism in sports," U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Under that climate of global expectation appeared Tebas, who apologized to Vinicius. "I didn't mean to criticize him, but to give the information of everything we were doing. Hence my frustration. I understand that he is also frustrated because he does not know about competitions. I do know and it frustrates me that there were no sanctions. I was wrong, for sure," admitted the president of the employers' association. He said he would support Vinicius if he decided to leave the pitch in the face of new insults. "If that's what he feels, of course I would support him and have the support of LaLiga."

Change of laws

After reviewing all the actions of LaLiga in recent years to eradicate racism, Tebas demanded powers to sanction racist or xenophobic acts that occur in the stands and in the vicinity of Spanish professional football stadiums. "We will continue to campaign and legally we will continue fighting for those who make these insults to be put in prison and that is why we want competitions. With competence, we are sure that in six months we will solve this problem. It's easier than economic control," he said. "But if some [the Competition Committee of the federation] put fines and the Prosecutor's Office files it is very difficult to end these insults of a group in the stadiums and also outside," Tebas added. "Tomorrow we will ask the Minister of Culture and Sports and the Government for an urgent reform of the Anti-Violence Law of 2007 and the Sports Law of 2022 to ask for competences that are now established only for the Federation." From the Higher Sports Council (CSD) they already assured this newspaper that "the sanctioning power will continue to be exercised by the General State Administration or, where appropriate, the Autonomous Communities. This is reflected in article 97 of the Sports Law."

Tebas is very convinced of his order, by which if the competitions remain under the tutelage of LaLiga the problem of racism in football would be tackled. He is sure that applying the current criminal legality regarding hate crimes plus a severe strategy aimed at clubs would be enough to end the scourge that has put Spanish football and the country in the firing. "When I became president, in the stadiums homophobic shouts were sung in chorus against Roberto Carlos, Cristiano and Messi was called subnormal. By the commitment of LaLiga and my personal we proposed that it had to disappear and so we did. Some president told me if he wanted the stadiums to become an opera. We won that battle," he recalled. The challenge of ending racism in football does not seem like an easy undertaking.

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Source: elparis

All sports articles on 2023-05-25

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