BarcelonaAt Premier League matches, players kneel to denounce racism. They also do it in international competitions. In the last Tottenham-Vitesse, the players of the Dutch team did too. The gesture, born in American sports when especially basketball players understood that as citizens they had the right to say theirs against the crimes committed by police against African Americans, has reached European football. But in the Spanish league no club copied it. Nobody kneels.
For what reason did no Barça player propose it? Barça has been a club that has never wanted to show that it is just a sports club. Already 100 years ago, during the 1910s, Joan Gamper did not hide that he wanted a Barça to become a social actor, integrated into a society that he aspired to do better. Laporta’s new directive affirms that the fight for human rights is openly embraced, including, of course, the rejection of racism, homophobia or machismo. If a club in the Spanish league could make this gesture, it is Barça, where footballers of different races play together in the first team, who have suffered racism in many cases. Dest, Araujo, Dembélé, Memphis, Ansu, Umtiti, Demir or Braithwaite have received racist insults throughout their careers. A squad with roots in Africa, South America, the Caribbean, Turkey, with Catalan players married to Colombians or Israelis. How nice it would be for Barça to take this step in a Champions League match and make it clear that racism is not welcome at the Camp Nou, where an idiot, it must be remembered, insulted Vini Junior of Madrid not so long ago because of his skin color . There is work to be done, starting at home. Last season, by the way, Real Madrid player Marcelo did kneel a few games.
Modern football seeks to balance the need to continue earning money and having values. The same week that you proclaim that you want to take care of human rights, you close agreements with Saudi Arabia, for example. Most of the figures loved by this club, from Guardiola to Xavi, have done business in Qatar. Other clubs, such as Bayern, have seen this week how the fans displayed banners against the commercial agreements with Qatar. Other clubs, like the English, see how the players kneel. At the Hungarian Ferencvaros, a club with a right-wing and ultra-fascist fans, player Henry Wingo raised his fist when his fans whistled at the Scottish Celtic players as they did kneel. Kneel against racism. And if rival fans whistle at you, let them do it. Being whistled by those who do not understand this gesture, being whistled by those who consider that they should not take a position against racism, is a sign of being on the right track.
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:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/sdpnoticias/VN2LF2SWFNGADKKSJVZKPK3TCE.jpeg "I will visit the Santa Lucia airport. And the bad guys against El Universal, according to El Universal")