The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) announced this Friday that it will promote changes in its regulations to “increase” and “toughen” penalties for racism, in response to recent reported cases.
In a statement, the governing body of South American soccer said that it considers “absolutely unacceptable any manifestation of racism and other forms of violence in its tournaments.”
“The fight against this scourge occupies a central place in the concerns and work of Conmebol,” defended the organization based in the Paraguayan city of Luque.
However, he indicated that “he assumes and will always assume his share of responsibility in the fight against all kinds of discrimination.”
Despite noting that racism “is not a phenomenon that begins and ends in football,” Conmebol admitted that the “sensation of anonymity” of the sports stands pushes some to “unleash their unacceptable behavior.”
In any case, he warned that at present “it is possible to clearly identify offenders and punish them with the greatest severity.”
He also urged clubs, federations, the media and fans to redouble their efforts to “eradicate racism and other forms of violence and discrimination.”
Conmebol spoke out after episodes considered racist, which have taken place in the Copa Libertadores and have been denounced by the teams or spread on social networks and the media.
One of these took place on April 13 in the match between River Plate from Argentina and Fortaleza from Brazil for the second day of the group stage of the Copa Libertadores.
During the game, played at the Monumental stadium, a River Plate fan threw a banana at the Fortaleza fans, an insult described as racist and recorded on video.
As a result of the incident, Conmebol imposed a $30,000 fine on the Buenos Aires team.
In his decision, released this Friday through a statement, the sole judge of the Disciplinary Commission warned that if any infraction “of the same or similar nature” is repeated, article 31 of the Disciplinary Code will apply, regarding recidivism, “and the consequences that could be derived from it”.
In another recent episode of racism in South American stadiums, a Boca Juniors fan was arrested in Sao Paulo on Tuesday (and released the next day after posting bail) for gesturing against Corinthians fans.
The Sao Paulo club reported in a note that the Argentine fan was denounced by Brazilian fans for imitating a monkey at the Neo Química Arena stadium in Sao Paulo.
Likewise, on Thursday night Flamengo lamented through a statement the “unfortunate scenes of racism” in the match that beat the Catholic University in Chile 2-3.
Given these events, the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), Ednaldo Rodrigues, asked Conmebol this Friday to toughen the sanctions against racist demonstrations in the face of the various incidents that occurred this month in Copa Libertadores matches.
“These cases of racism in soccer, mainly in Libertadores matches, have generated great concern and a lot of indignation and sadness in the CBF,” Rodrigues said.
