Sulley Muntari walks off the pitch due to racial abuse

Sulley Muntari walked off the pitch during stoppage time of his side’s 1–0 loss at Calgliari after he was shown a yellow card while pleading with the referee to do something about the racial abuse he was being subjected to by the crowd. Pescara played the final minutes of the match with 10 men.
The 32-year-old told television reporters that a group of fans had been insulting him from the start of the match, including a group of children.

He said he offered the children his shirt to set an example but the insults continued in the second half.

“He told me I should not talk to the crowd. I asked him if had heard the insults. I insisted that he must have the courage to stop the game,” Muntari said.

“The referee should not just stay on the field and blow the whistle, he must do everything. He should be aware of these things and set an example,” he added.

Muntari’s former club, Milan, abandoned a friendly in 2013 when Kevin-Prince Boateng was racially abused by fans. In response to that incident, guidelines for handling situations like this were put into place.

The referee should tell the Fourth Official, who will then inform the official representing the Osservatorio [the group that organizes safety and security measures around sporting events] in the stadium. He is “the only person responsible for the decision on whether to suspend the game.”

The players can make the referee aware of racist abuse, but the decision must still go through the officials.

Despite Muntari’s impassioned protests, the referee in this match did not seem at all interested in his plight. Telling Muntari not to talk to the crowd is blaming the victim. At this point, he had no option left but to walk off the pitch. “This is my color,” he told the crowd as he left, patting his arm.

Clearly more work needs to be done to ensure racial abuse is properly dealt with in Italian stadiums.

Dirty Tackle