After being the target of racial taunts during a match in Italy’s top league last month, a well-known Black goalkeeper is now being used as a political football.
Mike Maignan, the goalkeeper for AC Milan and a member of the French national team, led his team off the field following reports that Udinese fans abused the Frenchman during a Serie A match at the BlueEnergy Stadium in Udine, Italy.
The club said that those five supporters have a permanent ban from Udinese’s BlueEnergy stadium.
The mayor of Udine, Alberto Felice De Toni, extended an invitation to Maignan, 29, to become an honorary citizen as a token of friendship and support.
However, members of the far-right political group Lega voted against the motion last week in the municipal council’s decision, which was perceived to be primarily ceremonial. As a result, Maignan’s honorary citizenship in the place where he was racially abused was refused. Fontanini stated in a statement following the decision, alluding to the region of Italy that is home to Udine.
Honorary citizenship is traditionally granted to individuals who have made a tangible contribution to the sociocultural well-being of the populace. This case does not involve the Maignan issue, Fontani continued.
Investigative journalist and author of “Ultra: The Underworld of Italian Football,” Tobias Jones, said by
“We disparage any aspect of the opposition players to wind them up, to put them off their game,” is the justification that soccer fans and ultras, in particular, constantly provide for their racist shouting, says Jones.
They claim they are only strategic and not racist. They will mistreat people of any nationality, redheads, and athletes whose wives have cheated on them.
However, Jones claims that Italy is different since institutional leaders there frequently unintentionally perpetuate racism by stating things like, “We have too many Black players, and so on.” Instead of talking about a particular incident, Jones was talking in general.
According to Jones, there is a perception that people with different skin tones are somehow less than human; they are frequently denied citizenship, taken advantage of by gang leaders, and publicly mocked by most right-wing politicians in an effort to win over support.