Spain’s soccer shame
On two occasions the cry of “if you’re not jumping, you’re a Muslim” could be heard from the stands and even the cry of “Vinicius, beach ball”.
“Is it really true?” journalists from all over the world kept asking shortly after the disgraceful chants that rang out in Cornellà went viral across every corner of the soccer world. Yes, it is true, as true as it is shameful, as condemnable as it is embarrassing, as pathetic as it is real. That group, a very large one, incidentally, has put Spain in the crosshairs with a racist chant unworthy of a society that prides itself on being modern and tolerant.
Once again, the worst elements of society are using soccer as cover to display the very lowest side of human behavior. The real question is why soccer draws in people like this, people who ought to be isolated and kept apart from civilized society.
What was most striking was that the chant of “if you’re not jumping, you’re a Muslim” caught on in part of the crowd at Cornellà as if it were some witty, funny idea. The federation responded by reiterating the ban on any racist behavior. There was little else it could do, or could have done, in a stadium with less control than at a league game, with members and season-ticket holders in attendance.
On two separate occasions, the aforementioned Muslim chant found a home in the stands, along with “Vinicius, beach ball” [reference to the Real Madrid player missing out on the Ballon d’Or]. Every bit of it was disgraceful. Those people have no place in soccer or in our society. Spain has been, and will be again, singled out as a racist country, and this time there will be grounds for it. A crying shame. I feel ashamed of this Spain.
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