Conmebol (South American Football Confederation) opened a disciplinary procedure about a gesture made by a Palmeiras fan during the match of his team against Cerro Porteño, last Wednesday (9), by the Copa Libertadores, in Sao Paulo. The image won social networks, and club itself has promised measures.
The video displays fans of the São Paulo team, positioned in the Gol Sul sector of Allianz Parque, cursing visitors, back to lawn. One of them shakes his arms to his rivals, apparently imitating a monkey. Paraguayan association fans said they were jokingly called “Indians.”
“Palmeiras received images that show an individual making racist gestures towards Cerro Porteño fans during yesterday’s game and, with the help of the Allianz Parque’s facial biometrics and surveillance cameras, already works to identify it,” published the Brazilian club.
“As soon as this happens, it will be blocked from the ticket purchase platform for the club’s games as home and also excluded from Avanti, if you are adept at the program [de sócios-torcedores]. Alviverde will still register a police report for the complete investigation of the case, “added Palmeiras.” We do not tolerate prejudiced conduct, especially in our home. “
The case is just over a month after another episode of racism in a match between Cerro Porteño and Palmeiras. On March 6, in the U-20 Libertadores Cup match, striker Alviverde Luighi was repeatedly the target of racial injury by the opponent’s fans at the Gunther Vogel stadium in San Lorenzo, Paraguay.
The boy left the field crying, in the scene of great repercussion. The president of Palmeiras, Leila Pereira, considered white the punishment to Cerro: games without fans and a fine of US $ 50 thousand ($ 288 thousand, at the quotation of the time). She charged Conmebol’s measures and even suggested that Brazil leave the entity, joining the Concacaf, the North America Confederation.
“It would be like Tarzan without cheetah. Impossible,” replied the president of Conmebol, Paraguayan Alejandro Domínguez. Chita is a famous character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, a chimpanzee accompanying the human hero Tarzan on forest adventures. Domínguez, criticized, apologized for the sentence.
The problem of racism is quite recurring in the fields of South America, with multiple cases recorded in recent years in various competitions. In response to last month’s episode, Conmebol announced the creation of a task force to deal with the issue headed by former Brazilian player Ronaldo.
Domínguez led on Thursday (10), by video conferencing, the ordinary congress of the South American Confederation. In his speech, he celebrated the task force and stated that “the acts of racism, discrimination and violence, the result of a deteriorated society that affect football, are a great challenge.”
“It is about managing interests that often go against ourselves. We have, with the will of all, to implement tools that are very important to deal with these difficulties, but this is something deeper. We need to manage, first, our general interests to maintain the virtuous course of our organization,” he said.
