A video published on the official account of Colonia Moscardó, a club that competes in the fourth division of the Spanish Championship, sparked outrage in Spain. The images show the association’s president, Javi Poves, running after Muslim players in the squad, with a leg of ham in his hands.
The purpose of the publication, according to the 39-year-old manager, was to attract fans to this Saturday’s match (11), against Orihuela, in Madrid. He stated that the Madrid team would offer the public at the Román Valero stadium a presentation of “maximum quality”, just like that of Iberian ham.
Faced with negative reactions, which pointed to racism and xenophobia, the club removed the video from its social media profiles. Poves produced another recording, lasting three and a half minutes, explaining his attitude, without apologizing. According to him, it was all just an irrelevant joke that should not have taken on greater proportions.
“We removed it because there are people who want to use the video to attack Moscardó. It can’t be like that. If they want to attack Moscardó, let it be head on. It will be the last time I will participate in Colonia Moscardó’s social networks. It was something done with sympathy, like an unimportant joke, without any religious nature”, he stated.
“I must have lived in more Muslim countries than 99% of the people watching this video. At some point in my life, I considered converting to Islam, because it is one of the religions through which I channeled greater spirituality. So, for me, talking about Islam… It’s not possible,” he added.
Poves even said “I’m sorry”, but he was far from retracting it. According to him, “all people who feel offended are going down a bad path.” Because of the criticism, the president announced that he will avoid public appearances, keeping his activities at the club restricted to behind the scenes.
“From now on, I’m going to prepare for the next role in my life, which will be that of a shepherd. I’m training as a shepherd to drive sheep, to grow tomatoes, eggplants, etc.”, he said, in a rant tone. “But this is over. They will not use the figure of Javi Pobes to attack Moscardó”, he concluded.
Former player, Javi Poves built a career as a defender in small teams in Spain, the biggest of which was Sporting Gijón. As a manager, he became accustomed to making controversial publications on social media, with the aim of attracting attention. Last year, he even dressed up as Jesus Christ to “activate the faith” of his fans.
