Italian rugby club suspends player over racist Christmas present

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Rugby club Benetton Treviso said on Thursday it had suspended one of its players after a member of the black squad revealed he had received a banana as a Christmas present from a teammate.

Cherif Traore, who represents Italy domestically, wrote on Instagram on Wednesday that some players laughed as they opened the gift. He later said he accepted an apology for what happened.

The club released two statements on the matter on Wednesday, but made no suggestion that they planned to investigate the incident or take action against the player responsible.

In a change of tone on Thursday, they released a third statement saying the National Sports Prosecutor’s Office would look into what happened “in order to protect the founding values ​​and reputation of the game”.

“At the same time, Benetton Rugby has decided to suspend as a precautionary measure, for the duration of the prosecution’s investigations, one of its own players,” the statement said.

They did not name the player.

Benetton Treviso said it would be up to federal investigators to impose athletic or administrative penalties.

The United Rugby Championship (URC) have issued a statement asking Benetton Treviso for a “full report” into the incident.

“Racism and discrimination of any kind is abhorrent,” the URC statement said.

“[It is] totally unacceptable in society and are completely contrary to the values ​​of the sport of rugby and the United Rugby Championship.”

The URC said it had been in contact with Benetton Rugby, who “have been asked to provide a full report on what happened and the meaningful action that will be taken as a result”.

Traoré was born in Guinea but has lived in Italy since he was seven years old. He wrote on Instagram that he doesn’t normally react to “racist jokes” so as not to make enemies.

“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”.

There have been numerous incidents of black athletes in Italy suffering racist abuse.

In football, black players are regularly mocked by fans, while in October Paola Egonu, a black volleyball player, announced she was taking a break from the Italy national team following comments questioning his nationality.

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