The President of the Spanish Football Federation Luis Rubiales has given a press conference to speak on the racist abuse that Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior suffered on Sunday night at Mestalla.
The incidents, which have travelled the world and inspired fury from those watching on, have created a media storm after Vinicius confronted fans racially abusing him.
La Liga President criticised Vinicius for his frustration with the league’s failure to deal with the issue, and while La Liga have condemned the incidents, Tebas himself personally has still only engaged with the Brazilian.
Speaking to the media, Diario AS covered Rubiales’ words, where he admitted that Spain has a problem.
“What happened yesterday, and it is not the first time, has led me to appear and give an explanation. We have a problem. The first thing is to recognise that we have a problem in our country of behaviour, education, racism… As long as there is a single fan, an undesirable or a group of undesirables who insult for sexual reasons, skin, creed… We have a problem that stains clubs, fans, an entire country. We are a welcoming country that receives millions of visitors every year, people from all over the world…”
Vinicius has taken the conversation to the authorities with his statements on social media. Rubiales asked Vinicius to help the Spanish Football Federation with the solution.
“Vinicius Jr and any female or male footballer who receives an insult, in this case due to racism, has my support and that of the RFEF. We are here to support and help, but also to ask them to help us improve.”
“There are those who talk about the behaviour of certain players. I am not going to go into that topic because that is what the referees and committees are for. But we cannot compare a problem that involves a grain of sand with a problem that involves a whole desert. I repeat, even if it is a single undesirable, even if it is a group of undesirables, it is a problem that stains all of Spanish football.”
Rubiales also acknowledged that his own branch of authority could be more proactive in preventing the racism.
“No doubt Vinicius is more right than we think. And we can all do more, also the Federation. The objective that we have set for ourselves is that Vinicius and the rest of the players who have suffered this problem can say publicly that this is no longer a problem in Spain as soon as possible. I hope that day comes as soon as possible. That’s what we’re going to work for. That message for Vinicius and the rest of people in football who have suffered this.”
That final point is likely the one that fans and frustrated onlookers will put to Rubiales. There seems little desire from LaLiga nor the RFEF to take responsibility for punishments, instead foisting that on the justice system, rather than taking action into their own hands.
