Former Cameroon goalkeeper Carlos Kameni – ‘They insult Vinicius because of his attitude more than anything’

Former Cameroon, Malaga and Espanyol goalkeeper Carlos Kameni has explained that if he were Vinicius Junior, he would not deal with racism in the same manner.

The Brazilian forward has suffered horrendous racial abuse over the past two years, something which Kameni should know all about having experienced numerous incidents of racial abuse in his 23-year career. The 39-year-old is currently playing third-tier football for Antequera in Andalusia, and explained that he returned to Spain because he feels loved there.

Asked by Relevo about his experiences on the pitch, and racial incidents, Kameni said it inspired him to more.

“If they do it to me on a pitch it’s ugly, but if their team is winning, they won’t waste time doing it. If not, they release their frustration in an inappropriate way. At that moment I think I’m screwing up their game: the more they shout and the more I grow. If they do it on the street, I take it worse. But I think it is dirtying the image of a league, of a country, from a minority of individuals.”

He was glad that action was finally being taken against the culprits though, with La Liga and the police taking a more active role in the past 12 months.

“I said a long time ago that it had to be stopped and I am happy that decisions are now being made. The situation has not improved because we continue to experience this almost every weekend, but in the way of attacking the problem, the sanctions are there. Before they said they were going to investigate, but the actions never came.”

Kameni was clear that he had relatively low expectations of the authorities during his time in La Liga. He also mentioned that his children’s generation are no better educated on racism than his were in Spain.

“Honestly, I have never expected help from anyone. The good thing was knowing that my teammates were with me, that’s the most important thing. If you’re in a mess like that and you don’t have the support of your loved ones, you’re dead. I don’t need the messages, I need them to act, to fine them.”

Vinicius has suffered the brunt of the racial abuse in recent times, and he declared that he would have a different approach to that of the Brazilian when dealing with it.

“I don’t want to disrespect anyone or be misunderstood, because no matter how much we are children of the same father or mother, we all have a different way of reacting to the same problem. I wouldn’t take it the same way. I feel very loved where I have gone, I have even experienced that in some fields that now applaud me. Returning a shout or insult is getting into their game, putting yourself at their level… Many times silence is the best way to respond, and you have to consider that the player has a playing style that can be interpreted as provocation.”

“It’s not that you have to change your way of playing, but your physical attitude or reaction does greatly influence how things go more or less. For example, if the same Valencia fan shouts at me and I answer him, insulting him, that ends differently. I think taking a calmer and more polite tone with them is the key.”

Kameni continued on to admit that in his mind, Vinicius suffers more racial abuse because of his attitude.

“If he had a different attitude, I think a little bit yes, that’s why when you talk to people about Vinicius, they tell you that he is provocative. There you see that it is more because of his attitude than anything else, because there are many black players in the league who do not suffer from it every weekend.”

And explained that silence does not necessarily mean acceptance.

“Many times when there is a problem, not fighting does not mean that you are not right. Silence solves many things. They yell at you and you continue doing your thing. I have seen footballers like Iniesta, anyone who kicked him, he stood up looking at you as if to say ‘what have I done to you to deserve this?’ You are not going to go in the same way next time. But if he gets up and does so like that, it makes you want to hit him even more, even though you know you made a mistake.”

Around such a sensitive issue, it is hard to come to a conclusion on how all people should act, and no doubt across all communities, the responses will be different. Vinicius might point out that while he has been the victim of more abuse, the fact that there has been more action of late is down to his very public addressing of the matter.