Watershed Moment for Racism in LaLiga?

As for the Spanish sports media, the issue of racism has this time also generated more attention and more column inches than it has in the past, although in truth, much of that has come only after the story exploded elsewhere.

While there’s also still sadly the impression that much of the reaction and the scope of the coverage has been shaped by the usual partisan divides, this issue has received considerably more in-depth coverage than usual.

That combined with the action of authorities in pursuing the racists who abused Vini earlier in the season before the Madrid derby and taking faster action following the incidents in Valencia, suggests this particular storm has resulted in some form of meaningful response, summarised by Marca’s headline of “No More Impunity”.

The Pushback

However, not all of the reaction in Spain has been universally supportive of Vinicius. While in most instances, the racist abuse has been condemned, many have struck a tone that has attempted to either play down the significance or extent of it, or push back against some of the accusations and steer the debate in another direction.

Valencia’s reaction has also been interesting to watch. Whilst condemning the racist abuse, it’s pretty clear that they feel they are being scapegoated for a wider problem. The club has described a five-game partial stadium ban dished out to them as “disproportionate, unjust and unprecedented”.

Carlo Ancelotti’s false but widely shared comments about a “whole stadium making racist insults” in Sunday’s game have also clearly touched a nerve. To an extent that’s understandable. No club or fanbase is likely to react well to effectively being labelled as entirely racist.

It’s impossible to ascertain an exact number for those who shouted racist abuse at Vinícius with the clearest and most identifiable evidence of “mono” (monkey) rather than “tonto” (silly) chants taking place outside the stadium before the game. In theory, that’s outside of the club’s jurisdiction and some of those perpetrators may well belong to a Far Right Ultras group that has already been banned from Mestalla.

However the lack of a response from police officers stood only a few metres away from those making those chants again hints at a much wider societal problem.

Victim Blaming & Denial

Evidence of the scale of the task required to make meaningful and lasting change in terms of removing racism from Spanish football, has also sadly been pretty easy to find this week. There are not only members of the public, but sections of the media who continue to fail to differentiate between the kind of abuse and insults that have always existed in football stadiums and the kind of racist abuse that has been hurled at Vinícius at various points this season.

What’s more, victim blaming is everywhere with many pundits, publishers and even some fellow footballers instead choosing to focus on what Vinícius needs to do differently in order to stop the abuse.

Valencia paper Super Deporte has been the biggest culprit with some truly shocking headlines and lamentable coverage that has tried to fully turn the tables and portray the club and city as the real victims in this story.

They haven’t been the only ones to go down a similar route.

Despite having the red card he received in the closing stages at Mestalla rescinded, Vini Junior did not play in midweek against Rayo Vallecano. That means Real Madrid’s trip to Sevilla on Saturday and what’s likely to be another hostile atmosphere will be the first big test of whether last Sunday’s events have had any real impact in changing the way opposing fans react to the 22 year old.

The chances of that appear slim judging by the reaction of one Sevilla fan blog which stated “Spanish football experienced one of the biggest scandals in history yesterday”.

That’s not a reference to the racist abuse suffered by Vinícius but the decision to revoke his suspension, thus allowing him to play in the game. They also urged their supporters “not to fall into the trap with Vinícius” to avoid the possibility that they “ban us for life” whilst proposing that supporters either boycott the game or arrive late in protest.