Italian prop Cherif Traore calls out teammates over racist Christmas present

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A black Italian rugby player accused his teammates of racism on Wednesday after they gave him a “rotten banana” during an anonymous gift exchange with Secret Santa.

Cherif Traore wrote on Instagram that he received the unwanted gift, inside a bin bag, at a Christmas dinner for Benetton Treviso players.

“Apart from finding it an offensive gesture, what hurt me the most was seeing that most of my teammates who were present were laughing. As if everything was normal,” said Traoré, 28. year.

“I haven’t slept all night.”

Traoré was born in Guinea but has lived in Italy since he was seven years old. He plays as an accessory for the northern club Treviso and for the Italian national rugby team.

He said he doesn’t normally react to “racist jokes” so as not to “make enemies” with the people around him, but said he couldn’t let the latest insult pass.

“I decided not to be silent this time to make sure that episodes like this never happen again,” he said, adding that such behavior would be “seriously condemned outside the ‘Italy”.

In a statement, Benetton Rugby said it had “always condemned in the strongest terms any expression of racism and/or form of discrimination”.

The incident involving Traore “has nothing to do with sport” and the club have said they will always uphold “respect for people, their culture, their ethnicity, their faith and their dignity”.

There have been numerous incidents of black athletes in Italy suffering racist abuse. In football, black players are routinely abused by fans during matches. In October, Paola Egonu, a black volleyball player, announced she was taking a break from the Italy national team following comments questioning her nationality.

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