Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior once again suffered racial abuse on Sunday night, in a story that is becoming all too familiar. However with Vinicius later being sent off, Carlo Ancelotti furious and La Liga President Javier Tebas getting involved with the Brazilian on Twitter, it appears the situation has reach boiling point.
This is the 10th, 9th according to Tebas, incident of its kind this season, and while punishments have been handed out, there’s been plenty of calls for further action. So far fines of €4k and bans from sporting facilities for two years are the largest ones to be given out.
As it happens, La Liga does not actually control the disciplinary function itself. They gather evidence on incidents of discrimination, and then present it to the Antiviolence Committee. They then review the evidence and recommend a punishment to the public prosecutor.
Thus the burden of handing out punishments is shared between various departments, but Relevo say all too often these recommended charges do not get filed by the justice department.
The only other body capable of getting involved is the Competition Committee of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). They too can recommend punishment to the relevant public legal services, but the Madrid outlet highlight that the RFEF delegate report, the TV director report and the police report, should there be one, are usually necessary in order for cases to be brought.
As such, neither is at liberty to enforce the closure of a stand or the banning of a section of fans currently.
That said, given the frequency and seriousness of the incidents this season, the demand for further action is understandable. None of these bodies seem willing to take on the responsibility to ensure that larger sanctions are handed out, and thus it appears none is likely. Equally, given the damaging nature of Sunday’s events, LaLiga and the RFEF could well demand reform in the system too, to give them more power going forward.
