Blog Bonito III: Pause for the cause

Later today Ukraine plays Spain - two good teams, almost certain to advance, each representing the far reaches of Europe, both coached by on-the-record racists.

Reported in the Los Angeles Times:

Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin, for example, recently complained that the influx of foreign players deprived his compatriots of role models: “Let them learn from [our players] and not some Zumba-Bumba whom they took off a tree, gave two bananas and now he plays in the Ukrainian league.”

Spain’s coach Luis Aragones was caught on tape in 2004 trying to motivate Jose Antonio Reyes by comparing him with his Arsenal team-mate Thierry Henry thus: “You are better than that black shit.”

He later insisted that there was nothing racist about the remark: “Reyes is ethnically a gypsy,” Aragones to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. “I have got a lot of gypsy and black friends. All I did was to motivate the gypsy by telling him he was better than the black.”

The incident made international headlines, earned Aragones a puny fine, and inspired Henry to launch the STAND UP SPEAK UP anti-racism campaign.

Both coaches have refused to apologize for their remarks, both have kept their jobs.
Here’s to hoping both go home disappointed this year…

STAND UP SPEAK UP
Football Against Racism in Europe

Diggdel.icio.usFacebookRedditStumbleUponTechnorati

Popularity: 2% [?]