80
(^) Daily Mail, Friday, September 6, 2019
If Inter’s black
players refused
to play, would it
finally stop the
monkey chants?
MARTIN
SAMUEL
CHIEF SPORTS WRITER
again, Lukaku should be flattered
to be compared to a chimp. It’s
praise, really. Doesn’t he get it, the
stupid, thick, n-.
Let’s stop right there. For, at the
end, the racists reveal who the real
victims are. It’s not the black
people they have insulted and
demeaned. It’s them. The ultras.
The poor little ultras. Oh, the
pity of it. Won’t they think of
the ultras?
‘When you declare that racism
is a problem to be fought in Italy
you just help the repression
against all football fans, including
us...’ Lukaku is informed. ‘Please
help us to clarify what racism
really is and that Italian fans are
not racist.’
Now this elucidation might be
difficult for Lukaku, who has
moved to a new club and might
not want to take on its most vocal,
most fervent, most — ahem — racist
element so early in his career. He
probably thought his statement
deploring the behaviour in Cagliari
was uncontroversial and won’t
have imagined any group, cer-
tainly not one ostensibly on his
side, would attempt to justify
what he had heard. Yet if it is clari-
fication that is needed, here goes.
Monkey chants are racist. If you
make that noise at a football
match, so are you. If nobody is
dealing with you for it, so are they.
So do not confuse yourself with a
true supporter, an intellectual
thinker or even an observer with a
valuable contribution to make.
You do not have ‘ways’, you are
not ‘helping your team’, your
rationalisations are entirely worth-
less. And if every black Inter Milan
player refused to take the field
in the next match against
Udinese on September 14,
and every week there-
after until there was at
least an apology, would
the Curva Nord get the
message through their
thick, ignorant, er,
racist heads?
Maybe, maybe
not. But surely,
by now, it’s
worth a try.
unfolded in Cagliari should not
have surprised anyone given that,
throughout Italian football, fans
can commit racist outrages
without significant consequence.
For too long, Serie A has
pandered to the ultras and their
corrupted concept of loyalty and
service. When Moise Kean, for-
merly of Juventus, was similarly
abused at Cagliari last season, the
authorities decided the chanting
had ‘objectively limited reference’,
whatever that means.
No action has been taken since
Lukaku was targeted on Sunday,
either, with disciplinary repre-
sentatives requesting more
evidence before making a ruling.
Even were Cagliari charged,
considering these are repeat
offences, history suggests nothing
of note would be done. Atalanta
were fined just over £30,000 in
2014 when very finite evidence of
racism — bananas thrown at
Milan players Kevin Constant and
Nigel de Jong — was apparent.
S
O THE authorities are to
blame. Yet for self-
serving, specious,
straight-up racist drivel,
the statement-cum-lecture from
Inter’s Curva Nord on Facebook
is unsurpassed.
‘We are really sorry you thought
what happened in Cagliari was
racist,’ Lukaku (below) was told,
as if he had missed the wider
subtleties of a bunch of white guys
making monkey noises in his
direction. ‘You have to understand
Italy is not like many other North
European countries where racism
is a real problem.’
And on it went, ripe with pre-
cious self-justifications and
ludicrous attempts to occupy
the high ground, the pig-
ignorant statements piling
up and up. ‘Please consider
this attitude of Italian fans
as a form of respect... they
are afraid of you for the goals
you might score against
their teams, and not
because they hate you
or they are racist.’ So,
H
OW very kind of
Inter Milan’s
ultras to clarify
for Romelu
Lukaku, or any
other black person who
might be confused by all
the strange noises, what
exactly constitutes racism
in Italian football.
Not monkey chants, apparently.
Not a crude comparison between
a human being and an ape. This,
as experienced by Lukaku in
Cagliari at the weekend — and
many black players at the stadium
before him — is merely a form
of respect.
A warped respect, you might
think, given that it seeks to dehu-
manise the individual; to publicly
humiliate, antagonise and intimi-
date him. But these abhorrent
sounds, these degrading taunts,
the ultras were at pains to explain,
were merely ‘ways’ deployed by
Italian fans ‘to help our team’.
No consideration of how racially
abusing a black opponent might
make any black player wearing
your team’s shirt feel. No under-
standing of how isolating and
bewildering such an action might
be. Indeed, far from deploring
events in Cagliari, the cretins who
claimed to have welcomed Lukaku
to Milan — as if he should be
grateful for this simple courtesy
— did not rule out using the same
‘ways’ to unsettle black players
when they visited the San Siro.
They even admitted using
racist chanting to unnerve black
opponents in the past.
But they weren’t racists, the
Inter ultras made clear. Heavens,
no. And neither were the crowd in
Cagliari. They just did a very good
impression of them.
Now you might think it is black
people who get to define racism,
not white knuckleheads, but this
is what happens when an entire
football culture is too timid to
confront the issue and its
protagonists head on.
Italy has been soft on racism in
football for decades now. What
Football
Our scout is a top football
expert who attends matches
each week searching for the
next star. He brings you his
verdict in Sportsmail.
THE
SCOUT
WHAT HAS HE GOT?
ONCE again the difficulty of
assessing at current academy
level compared to the more
frenetic pace of league
football was clear when I
watched this player. With a
sparse crowd it’s difficult to
replicate the big occasion. But
here the son of Blackpool
manager Simon Grayson
looked a tall, strapping left-
footed centre back who
should have a fair career in
the game. It’s time for him,
at 20, to cement a regular
senior place. With a hammer
of a left foot he looked fond of
the big cross-field ball to the
opposite flank. He hit a couple
of beauties. He can also use
the thrust of his left foot to
push fast passes into his front
players with accuracy. He did
this well and showed other
passing qualities. He can chip
the ball and slide slower
angled passes into the
forwards’ feet. Indeed he
gave the impression he would
perhaps rather be playing
further upfield, measuring his
passes. On the defensive side,
he covered for his captain and
centre back — well aware that
there are always moments
when mistakes are made.
WHAT DOES HE NEED?
VERY much left-footed, he
seemed capable of marking a
front-runner of pace over
distances but got caught out
by a short shallow run behind
his back. That exposed his
ability on the turn. Upright in
stance, he needs to work on
movement — nimbleness of
feet — to be able to swing
round more quickly. With his
passing he tends to overuse
that crossfield ball. The
success of this type of pass is
to use it occasionally, as the
opposition full back can
otherwise read the intention
and intercept, particularly
if the ball is given too much
height.
Overall in this game he was
not tested enough, and sat
comfortably in the central
area in this Under 23 contest.
His heading was rarely
examined in a far from frantic
game. With his physique and
confidence on the ball, I feel
he desperately needs a lower-
league loan. He has already
had a brief spell at Grimsby
and his career will progress
more quickly given that
opportunity again.
JOE GRAYSON
AGE: 20 CLUB: BLACKBURN
POSITION: CENTRE-BACK VA LU E : £350,000
SPORT IN BRIEF
EURO 2020 Q’FYING
GROUP D
GIBRALTAR ....(0) 0 DENMARK ....(2) 6
REP OF IRELAND (0) 1 SWITZERLAND (0) 1
McGoldrick 85........ Schar 74
P W D L F A GD Pts
Rep of Ireland 5 3 2 0 6 2 4 11
Denmark ....... 4 2 2 0 15 5 10 8
Switzerland .. 3 1 2 0 6 4 2 5
Georgia ......... 4 1 0 3 4 8 -4 3
Gibraltar ....... 4 0 0 4 0 12 -12 0
GROUP F
FAROE ISLANDS (0) 0 SWEDEN .....(4) 4
NORWAY ......(2) 2 MALTA .......(0) 0
ROMANIA .....(0) 1 SPAIN .......(1) 2
Andone 59 Sergio Ramos 29 (pen)
Alcacer 47
P W D L F A GD Pts
Spain ............. 5 5 0 0 13 3 10 15
Sweden ......... 5 3 1 1 12 7 5 10
Norway ......... 5 2 2 1 10 7 3 8
Romania ....... 5 2 1 2 12 7 5 7
Malta ............. 5 1 0 4 2 12 -10 3
Faroe Islands 5 0 0 5 3 16 -13 0
GROUP G
ISRAEL .......(0) 1 N MACEDONIA (0) 1
P W D L F A GD Pts
Poland ........... 4 4 0 0 8 0 8 12
Israel ............. 5 2 2 1 9 8 1 8
Austria .......... 4 2 0 2 7 6 1 6
Slovenia ........ 4 1 2 1 7 3 4 5
N Macedonia 5 1 2 2 6 8 -2 5
Latvia ............ 4 0 0 4 1 13 -12 0
GROUP J
ARMENIA ......(1) 1 ITALY ........(1) 3
Karapetyan 11 Belotti 28, 80
L Pellegrini 77
BOSNIA-HERZ.. (1) 5 LIECHTENSTN. (0) 0
FINLAND ......(0) 1 GREECE ......(0) 0
P W D L F A GD Pts
Italy ............... 5 5 0 0 16 2 14 15
Finland .......... 5 4 0 1 7 2 5 12
Bosnia-Herz .. 5 2 1 2 10 7 3 7
Armenia ........ 5 2 0 3 8 9 -1 6
Greece .......... 5 1 1 3 6 9 -3 4
Liechtenstein 5 0 0 5 0 18 -18 0
INTERNATIONAL MATCH
N IRELAND .....(1) 1 LUXEMBOURG (0) 0
Malget 37 (og)
EUROPEAN U-21 CH’SHIP Q’FYING
— Gp 4: Scotland 2 San Marino 0.
÷CRICKET
T20 BLAST QTR-FINAL — Trent
Bridge: Middlesex 160-8 (20 overs,
Morgan 53), Notts 165-0 (16 .2 overs,
Hales 83no, Nash 74no). Notts bt
Middlesex by 10 wickets to reach
Finals Day (Sept 21, Edgbaston).
ONLY TEST — Chattogram: Afghani-
stan 271-5 (96 overs, Rahmat Shah
102, Asghar Afghan 88no) v Bangla-
desh.
÷CYCLING
LA VUELTA A ESPANA (Bilboa,
171 .4 km) — Stage 12: 1 P Gilbert
(Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 3hrs
48mins 18secs. Overall: 1 P Roglic
(Slo) Team Jumbo-Visma 44hrs
52mins 08secs; 2 A Valverde (Sp)
Movistar Team at 1min 52secs; 3 M
A Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team at
2mins 11secs.
÷GOLF
PORSCHE EUROPEAN OPEN
(Hamburg) — 1st rnd (GB & Ire
unless stated, par 72): 66 — P Casey;
67 — M Schwab (Aut); 68 — B Stow;
R Macintyre; M Rottluff (G); 69 — B
Evans; L Herbert (A); A Bjork (Swe);
70 — K Krogh Johannessen (Nor);
P Figueiredo (Por); P Larrazabal
(Sp); T Pieters (Bel).
÷RUGBY LEAGUE
BETFRED SUPER LEAGUE
CASTLEFORD .... 44 HULL ..........12
P W D L F A Pts
St Helens .............27 24 0 3 846 383 48
Wigan...................27 16 0 11 627 519 32
Warrington .........27 15 0 12 682 491 30
Salford .................27 15 0 12 746 569 30
Castleford .......... 28 15 0 13 638 532 30
Hull ...................... 28 15 0 13 639 746 30
Catalans Drgons ..27 13 0 14 519 675 26
Leeds ...................27 11 0 16 612 620 22
Wakefield ............27 10 0 17 573 690 20
Huddersfield .......27 10 0 17 541 706 20
Hull K R ................27 10 0 17 516 731 20
London Broncs....27 9 0 18 475 752 18
÷TENNIS
US OPEN (New York) — Wednes-
day’s late results: Men’s Qtr-
finals: (24) M BERRETTINI (It)
bt (13) G MONFILS (F) 3-6 6-3 6-2
3-6 7-6 (7-5); (2) R NADAL (Sp) bt
(20) D S SCHWARTZMAN (Arg) 6-4
7-5 6-2. Women’s Qtr-finals: (15)
B V ANDREESCU (Can) bt (25) E
MERTENS (Bel) 3-6 6-2 6-3.
÷TODAY’S ACTION
(7 .45 unless stated)
EURO 2020 Q’FYING — Gp C: Estonia v
Belarus (5 .0), Germany v Holland. Gp E:
Slovakia v Croatia, Wales v Azerbaijan
(Live on Sky Sports Premier Lge). Gp
G: Austria v Latvia, Slovenia v Poland.
Gp I: Cyprus v Kazakhstan (5 .0), San
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CRICKET — t20 Blast Qtr-final:
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RUGBY LEAGUE — Betfred Super
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RUGBY UNION — Int’ls (7 .30): Eng-
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