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Often rival fans take the rivalry too far and start racially abusing opposition. Many footballers around the globe have been subject to discrimination based on their skin colour while playing the game. Despite numerous efforts from FIFA and other authorities to stop the abuse, the incidents have not stopped. This kind of act is not limited only to football, but other games as well.
Recent racial abuse incidents in the Italian and English league tells everyone that it is still widely spread and even the top players in the game are subject to this kind of discrimination.
Racism might affect the performance and the mindset of the player. In the recent incident in Italy, Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly lost his cool after being racially abused and earned himself a red card.
UEFA gave out the following statement after the incident in Italy, "FIFPro and UEFA jointly condemn the racist abuse aimed towards Napoli player Kalidou Koulibaly last Wednesday during a league match at FC Internazionale in Milan. However, FIFPro and UEFA are very concerned by this unacceptable racist incident and by what appears on the surface to be a failure to respect the widely-recognised three-step anti-racism protocol".
Each player might react differently to being racially abused. Here is a look the 3 football stars who reacted perfectly to racial abuse.
#1 Dani Alves
The incident took place during Barcelona's dramatic 3-2 win at Villarreal in 2014. While the defender was about to take the corner, one of the fans threw a banana on the field. Alves surprised everyone when he picked up the banana and started eating it.
"We have suffered this in Spain for some time. You have to take it with a dose of humour,' Alves said. The Brazilian had been a regular target of racial abuse during his time in Spain with both Sevilla and Barcelona.
It was a very powerful move from the Brazilian, which earned him plaudits from fans and players across the globe. His 'banana eating' incident was reported across the world and many players came out in support of the defender. The incident started a massive movement on social media when players from different clubs and countries started posting pictures of them eating a banana.
#2 Raheem Sterling
This incident took place when Chelsea played Manchester City at the Bridge in the Premier League. A section of home fans started racially abusing Sterling continuously, but the 24-yea- old reacted in the best way possible by just looking at them and smiling.
The incident was condemned by the FA and Chelsea Football Club. The reaction of Raheem Sterling came out to be a very good one amongst the fans and the pundits.
Later on, Sterling took to social media and pointed out how the media outlets played a huge role in influencing the public to racially abuse the players. He wrote that many media outlets are biased towards white players as compared to the black players.
Chelsea and Metropolitan police launched an investigation into the alleged racist abuse from a section of home supporters towards the England International. Chelsea subsequently suspended four people in connection with the incident.
#3 Patrice Evra
Former Manchester United player Patrice Evra replied to racial abuse in the most fun way possible. Evra was subject to racial abuse when he was playing for Marseille in France. Evra kept his cool on the pitch but later took on the social media route to put out his message for the fans.
Evra posted a video where he was dressed as a Panda and said 'Be like a panda, I am black, I am white. I am Asian, I am chubby and I am full of love.
The way Evra sent out his message on being racially abused was well received throughout the footballing world. Many footballers came out in his support and posted anti-racism messages on their social media accounts.
Racial abuse is a big crime in the modern world, while these players have shown the ideal way to react to being racially abused, the authorities need to severely punish those who are caught racially abusing others.
