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A banana was once hurled at Dani Alves as an act of racism. How he handled it was spectacular
Racism has become a common occurrence in football. Racial discrimination has grown to become one of the biggest challenges faced by footballers, especially for the dark-skinned players. In recent years, the situation concerning racism has evolved, especially in European football.
In Europe, like Russia, Italy and Ukraine, the state of play regarding racial abuse has got to be one of the worst. The very first noteworthy incident was when Cameroonian Andre Amougou suffered racial abuse during his stint with Lokomotiv Moscow from 2005-07.
In 2012, there were widespread reports regarding racial insults in Poland and Ukraine when they co-hosted the UEFA European Championship. The first incident was when the dark-skinned players of the Dutch national squad were victims of monkey noises and jeers.
This carried forward to the games in the stadium when Russian fans directed racial abuse towards Czech Republic defender Theodore Gebre Selassie and Spanish fans were accused of racial chants towards Mario Balotelli.
Later in 2012, in the month of December, Zenit St.Petersburg unveiled a manifesto pleading to the club not to sign any black players. This wasn't the first time that Zenit fans had displayed their prejudice towards coloured footballers.
In March 2008, they had intended racial slurs and chants towards Marseille players Andre Ayew, Charles Kabore and Ronald Zubar.
There have been several instances when footballers have had to suffer the curse of racism. That being said, we take a look at 5 instances when players stood up against racism on the pitch:
#5 Kevin Constant
In the year of July 2013, AC Milan were playing a pre-season friendly against newly promoted Sassuolo at the Mapei Stadium, and Milan left-back, Kevin Constant was the subject of racist abuse from the Sassuolo fans.
In the 34th minute, he had walked over to take a throw-in. However, he had heard enough. He kicked the ball high in the stands in disgust stating his anger. After that, he took a bold and rightful move by walking off the pitch refusing to play a further part in the game and Milan were forced to make a substitution for the Guinea international.
#4 Sulley Muntari
It was April 30, 2017, when Sulley Muntari was involved in action for his new team, Pescara, in an away fixture against Cagliari, the Ghanian was the victim of racist chants from the Cagliari fans. The Ghanian decided to protest against the racial insults and went ahead to the stands to confront the fans of the home team.
He complained about the situation to the referee but in turn was awarded a yellow card for dissent. He even reported about the situation to the match officials but they didn't take any action towards it.
The midfielder had suffered enough. He decided to walk off the pitch since nothing was being done about his complaints. He was booked by the match official once again for leaving the pitch which led to a one-match ban.
However, he received no support from Pescara following his one-match ban and decided to handle the situation on his own. He lodged a formal appeal himself and later the ban was rescinded by Italian federation, FIGC.
This is how Muntari responded on Twitter after his ban was overturned:
#3 Dani Alves
In April 2014, Barcelona picked up an important 3-2 win in their challenge for the La Liga title. However, the game was overshadowed by the racial chants from Villarreal fans, aimed at Barcelona fullback, Daniel Alves.
Barcelona had received a corner kick and Alves was going to be the man to take it. However, before he was able to deliver the ball in the box, an anonymous fan in the crowd threw a banana at him. The Brazilian responded excellently by picking up the banana off the ground, peeling it and then eating it as he proceeded to take the corner.
In his post-match interview, Alves commented that the best way to tackle racism is through humour. Villarreal were fined €12,000 by the Spanish Football Federation for the fan that targeted the banana towards Dani Alves.
What a way to reply though!
#2 Didier Zokora
It was April 2012 when Trabzonspor's Didier Zokora confronted Fenerbahce midfielder Emre Belozoglu. The Turkish International was subject of racially insulting Zokora during the game. After the game, the Ivorian stated that Emre had called him a "f*****g n*****!". Belozoglu was given a two-match suspension by the Turkish Football Federation and was also criticised by the press.
However, when Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce again met later in the season, Zokora got his redemption. Firstly, the Ivorian refused to let his hand out to meet Emre's in the pre-match handshake segment.
But, he was not alone in his battle as Emre had been spotted as the target. The Trabzonspor players showed their support towards Zokora by fouling Emre hard and rough without the fear of being booked.
Ultimately, the Ivorian international got his revenge in a challenge in midfield when he kicked Emre Belozoglu with the total force of his boot right in the centre, in the wrong place.
Deserved?
#1 Kevin-Prince Boateng
Kevin-Prince Boateng can be identified as one of the few footballers who took a stand against racism both on the pitch and publicly. AC Milan were playing a mid-season friendly against fourth-tier Pro Patria during the Serie A winter break in January 2013.
However, the game was shadowed by controversy when the Pro Patria fans were directing racial slurs and insults towards the former Ghana international, as well as Urby Emanuelson, while Sulley Muntari and M'Baye Niang were also reportedly targeted. Boateng reacted by tearing off his shirt and walking off the pitch and was followed by his teammates.
The game was abandoned following the protest of the players. He received support not just from his teammates and manager, Massimiliano Allegri, but also through social media when fellow footballers weighed in on the situation in support of his actions to combat racism.
This was the first time any professional footballer responded so strongly to racism on the field through protest by refusing to continue the game and leaving the pitch.
It was necessary to prove that racism in football was not going to be tolerated. A couple of months later, Boateng was enlisted by then FIFA President, Sepp Blatter to help drive racism out of football in coordination with the United Nations.
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