European soccer has a racism problem. This is the opposite of news, but today has been a particularly potent reminder. It began this morning with former Italy manager, Arrigo Sacchi, making a classic "I'm not racist, but…" racist remark. From the Guardian:
The former Italy manager Arrigo Sacchi has denied being racist after he was quoted as saying there are "too many black players" at youth level in Italy - evidence that the nation is now 'without dignity or pride.'
Advertisement
Sacchi later took to the press to say of course that he is not racist, he was misunderstood:
Well!Not to be outdone, Chelsea fans riding the Paris metro on the way to their Champions League clash against Paris Saint Germain physically prevented a black man from getting on the train while chanting "We're racist, we're racist, and that's the way we like it." So they're going to have to come up with something other than "no one can say we're racist" when they offer their public apologies.H/T The GuardianI have been misrepresented, how could I be racist? I just said I saw a game featuring a team who fielded four coloured boys. My history speaks for itself, I always coached teams with different colours and I bought many, both at Milan and at Madrid. I just wanted to point out that we are losing our national pride and identity.