Hey Natali, that reminds me of something I have read a while ago. In an interview with the German paper "Die Tageszeitung" the actor Daniel Brühl (who has a Spanish mother) said something about latent racism in Spain and gave football as an example. During a football match of the F.C. Barcelona, he said, he could hear guttural sounds resembling monkeys directed at black players. He pointed out that something like this would be commented on by the Chancellor immediately, should it happen in Germany. In Spain, however, nobody seemed to care much.
A couple of Spanish newspapers and websites quoted him:
Here's a link:
http://www.fotograma.com/notas/actualidad/3743.shtml
Hey Anke. I remember that incident at the Barça game but I disagree with Brühl that nobody here seemed to care much. That's not true. He's exaggerating. I remember that after the incident a lot of things were done about it and Government officials did verbally condemn what happened. There was a massive campaign to end racism and violence at football games and society in general. I remember the case very well because it was a big issue here, and it lasted several months.
I think Brhul is being very unfair by saying that and a bit arrogant. I'm not from this country but his remarks bother me. Just because his mother is from Barcelona he can't come here and accuse everyone of being racist without getting his fact rights.
I'd like to point out that I'm not denying there isn't racism in Spain. But usually those incident in football games are caused by a small group of people.There is a problem here within the football culture, which the police has been trying get rid of for a long time. Some football fan clubs are organized by people who are downright racist. Not just against black or other non white individuals, but against people from other provinces such as Cataluña. There's one whose leaders were arrested about two years ago, El Ultra Sur, that is attached to the Real Madrid Football Club. It turned out that they were neo- nazi skinheads and were behind some racial crimes. Those people give other spaniards a bad name. Not every one here agrees with that kind of thought and behavior.
As for Etoo, I feel bad for him but he hasn't helped his case either. After the racist incident Brhul talks about he got support for a lot of people, then during a game he spit on the face of another player because of a disagreement within the field. According to the referee, the spitting was totally uncalled for, and some people who had supported him, backed out on him. Afterwards, to make things worse, when Barça won the league, Etoo grabbed a loudspeaker during the victory party and began chantting to the whole public (and in live TV): Madrid cabron saluda al campeon (Madrid, pricks, greet the champion). He had been all over the place promoting peace duirng football games, and then he does this.
Etoo of course does not deserve to be insulted because of his skin color and race, but football is a hot zone and as a sport figure he shouldn't have done that. Some people who had supported Etoo were Real Madrid fans, and they backed out on him.
This is why I don't like football. I don't mind the world cup, but I don't really follow it. Too much hatred and rivalry there.
