Rayo Majadahonda goalkeeper Cheikh Sarr has given an in-depth interview with Cadena Cope to explain what happened on Saturday, when he was racially abused by Sestao River fans in the third tier of Spanish football.
After Sarr was abused, he went into the stands to confront the racist, and was sent off by the referee. After matters had calmed down, Rayo captain Jorge Casado took his team off the pitch and decided that they would not return, resulting in a 3-0 defeat by forfeit, something Casado has said he would do again.
This follows on from a series of incidents involving Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid, while Marcos Acuna also received racial abuse from Getafe fans on Saturday too.
“In the warm-up everything was calm. It starts when the second half begins, at minute 50-60 they start saying strange things and monkey screams. I heard it but I didn’t pay attention to it. There were several. They also insulted my colleagues. They said some strange things to me but I put up with it. I neither look back nor pay attention to them. When they scored the second goal, it was the moment that broke my fast, I went to the post to get my water and a man with a hoodie and glasses, with a scarf over his face, told me ‘f***ing black; Run, you f***ing black man…’ and I couldn’t deal with it any long. He shouted this at me from very close by, one meter away, he came to where I was. I wanted to grab him to ask him why he was insulting me; if he hadn’t been with his children… The captain came to get me out of there and all my teammates came to defend me.”
The Senegalese goalkeeper found the referee’s actions at the time hard to stomach too.
“He didn’t see anything because he was in the middle of the pitch. He didn’t even ask me, he showed me the red card and I couldn’t understand it. If they do something racist to you, you would have to defend the player.”
“No one went to identify him [the abuser], That seems strange to me too.”
Sarr explained that Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior, who has led the fight against racism in Spain of late, had sent him a message in support following the incident.
“I’m with him ’til the death, because he has experienced it. It makes no sense that there is racism. I am very proud of him; he alone can’t do it all. I thanked him for supporting me. I have thanked him for his post on Instagram. If all black players were like Vinicius, racism would end.”
There has been some suggestion that Sarr could even be banned, with the usual punishment for an altercation with a fan following a red card 4-8 games.
“Don’t know. A person who has suffered racism should not be punished. I will be surprised if they sanction me, it is not fair but I will have to accept it,” he mentioned to Cadena Cope.
Sarr was also asked how he would explain what it feels like to be racially abused to a white person.
“You have to experience it to know what it’s like, it’s very f***** up. I have experienced it, but I don’t see it much.”
