A bad racist episode during PSG - Istanbul Basaksehir

The last day of the Champions League will unfortunately be remembered for the incredible episode of racism that took place during the match between Paris Saint Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir. During the match around 15 'of the first half, something incomparable happened between the fourth official, a sports judge who is on the sidelines between the team benches and a member of the Turkish team.

Hearing protests coming from the Turkish bench, following a warning against a player from Istanbul, the referee asked the fourth official who was protesting so vehemently, probably in order to watch him. The latter would have indicated with the term negru Pierre Webo, assistant coach of the Turkish team, sparking protests from Webo himself and Demba Ba. The discussion became more and more animated and heated and required the intervention of the referee, worried about the grouping of players against the fourth official Sebastian Coltescu.

Coltescu, of Romanian origin, tried to explain to the Istanbul Basaksehir team that the term negru in his dialect does not have a racist reference but would indicate the color nero. However, it is quite embarrassing to accept this thesis because objectively you cannot call a person who has a darker skin color black and for this reason, after a few minutes of protest, the players of the Turkish team decide to leave the field, followed immediately by the players. of Paris Saint Germain. The match will continue the next day with a new team of referees and the match will end with a 5-1 home win for the French team.

The phenomenon of racism is unfortunately still present and strong not only in sport but in the civil world in general. I consider it disconcerting that these episodes can happen in a sporting context that should be an aggregative and fun activity and the message it should launch is that of union regardless of those, religion, sex and everything. Sport just unites!

How often do we see racist chants from fans against some players? It is despicable to see how much ignorance is still rife in the third millennium. But when match officials commit such episodes, men chosen to be guarantors of sporting legality, then it is clear that there is really something wrong with the system. UEFA has requested all recordings of the referees' conversations during the match in order to hear everything accurately and subsequently proceed against referee Coltescu.

Football is perhaps the most popular sport in the world, has billions of fans and enthusiasts all over the world and must be an example of legality and cohesion especially for kids, who represent the new generations and will be responsible for the future of sport and beyond. It is necessary to intervene in a hard way to punish any racist gesture because the responsibility of the players, the referees and even the fans is enormous and forgiveness is not allowed in these cases. The fun of running after a ball together with other guys, whether they are teammates or opponents, is essential. But when factors such as racism intervene perhaps it would be necessary to stop everything and start asking some serious questions.

But football is business and this is the real evil of sport.