Valencia have announced that they will appeal the decision to partially close their stadium following Sunday’s racial abuse towards Vinicius Junior.
The Competition Commitee of the RFEF revealed on Tuesday night that they the punishment for the racial abuse of Vinicius would be a €45k fine and the closure of the Mario Kempes stand for the next five games.
Valencia have declared that they will appeal the decision, claiming it is unfair and disproportionate. They say that their co-operation with the authorities and swift identification of the culprits should work in their favour, and that punishing fans that did not abuse Vinicius is unfair.
They highlight that they will appeal at every opportunity the ban, and that “the fight against racism requires the real commitment of all the parties involved without using it as a pretext to incur serious injustices.”
There is no doubt that Valencia have received a much harsher punishment than any of the other clubs where racism has been detected this season. The hope is that this will set a precedent for all racial abuse going forward, and there is an argument that previous punishments were not serious enough, rather than this one being too harsh.
Full statement:
Valencia CF wishes to show its total disagreement and indignation at the unfair and disproportionate penalty imposed by the Competition Committee on the Club with the closure of the Entertainment Stand for five games. Valencia CF wants to publicly denounce that in this resolution of the RFEF Competition Committee they show evidence that contradicts what the National Police and LaLiga say. In addition, this sanction is based on evidence that the Club has not been able to see and without giving us a hearing.
Valencia CF has condemned, condemns and will condemn in the most energetic way any act of racism or violence. These behaviours have no place in football or in society and we will continue to act in the most forceful way to eradicate this scourge. For this reason, Valencia CF has been collaborating from the first minute with the Police and all relevant authorities to clarify the events that occurred last Sunday. In addition, it has applied the maximum possible sanction with the expulsion for life from our stadium to the fans that the Police have identified for their racist behavior.
For this reason we consider that penalising and depriving all the fans who were not involved in these unfortunate incidents from seeing their team is a totally disproportionate, unfair and unprecedented measure against which we will fight.
The fight against racism requires the real commitment of all the parties involved without using it as a pretext to incur serious injustices. Valencia CF will appeal to the last instance the closure of the Entertainment Stand, a sanction that it considers totally unfair and one more offence in the latest disciplinary decisions that have been taken against the Club. Valencia CF asks for the utmost respect and rigour for our institution and fans.
TOGETHER AGAINST RACISM
Valencia must be punish for what they did to our winger vinicius junior