The Crackdown on Racism in Spanish Football Intensifies

One year after the first conviction for racist insults at a football stadium in Spain, directed at Vinicius in May 2023 at Mestalla, the pioneering judicial resolution announced on Tuesday marks 'a before and after' in the fight against discrimination and intolerance. This is affirmed by both LaLiga and the Higher Sports Council (CSD), for whom the sentence from the Provincial Court of Valladolid, with Vinicius also as a victim, although in this case at José Zorrilla in December 2022, 'is the strongest evidence that this scourge is being tackled with determination through disciplinary, administrative, and judicial means.'

'This resolution represents an unprecedented milestone in the fight against racism in sport in Spain,' LaLiga celebrates, referring to the first conviction of racist chants in football as a hate crime, which implies harsher penalties for the perpetrators. The crackdown on racists intensifies thanks to this historic sentence that has found five Valladolid fans guilty of committing this type of crime, sentenced to one year in prison and fines, albeit of low amounts: 1,620 euros for four of them and 1,080 for another. The prison sentence is suspended following the agreement of the aggressors with the Prosecutor's Office and the private accusations involved in the case: LaLiga, Real Madrid, and Vinicius himself.

'Monkey', 'fucking black', 'faggot'... The Brazilian forward was once again subjected to severe insults on a football field, being substituted in the final minutes of the Valladolid-Real Madrid league match of the 2022-2023 season. The aggressors had 'undeniable intent to humiliate and injure the player's dignity for obvious racist reasons,' according to this unprecedented sentence, when previously such insults were classified as crimes against moral integrity, with the aggravating factor of racism.

The CSD considers that this judicial ruling 'supports the institutions and entities that defend fundamental rights on and off the field and work to ensure that sports spaces are safe and free from violence.' Among them, the organization chaired by Javier Tebas stands out. 'It is the result of LaLiga's work and our commitment to a football free of violence and discrimination. We will remain firm in this fight,' proclaims the head of the club association, who says he understands 'that there may be some frustration over the time it takes for these sentences to be handed down, but this demonstrates that Spain is a country with strong judicial guarantees.'

LaLiga insists on demanding that Spanish legislation evolve and grant sanctioning powers to this institution to shorten the timeframes in the fight against racism. Five years have passed since, in January 2020, LaLiga went directly to the courts for hate crimes typified in the Penal Code, following racist insults against Iñaki Williams during an Espanyol-Athletic match in Cornellà, and, for the moment, there is no sentence in this case with a single accused who mimicked monkey gestures and chants, as 'some procedural vicissitudes are slowing down the judicial process.'

A half-decade later, last February, the Athletic forward had to lament racist and xenophobic insults again in Cornellà, although not against himself, but against his teammate Maroan Sannadi. 'They shouted "fucking Moor" at him,' revealed Iñaki Williams after urging the match referee, as his team's captain, to apply the anti-racism protocol and stop the game.

'It's a matter of social education,' acknowledged then Athletic's coach, Ernesto Valverde. 'These people and attitudes are unnecessary in football fields and in our society,' was the message sent by the Bilbao club, while Espanyol condemned 'resolutely, once again, any display of racism in stadiums.' Not only in sports venues but also outside them, regrettable episodes of racism have been experienced and continue to be experienced, also with Vinicius as the main protagonist among black footballers playing in Spanish football.

The day before the Valladolid Provincial Court's ruling was announced, the trial began in Madrid against the four members of the Frente Atlético accused of hanging a black inflatable doll wearing Vinicius's shirt on a bridge near Valdebebas. Alongside the doll, on the night of January 25 to 26, 2023, before the Copa del Rey match between Real Madrid and Atlético at the Bernabéu, a banner was also displayed that read: 'Madrid hates Real.'

During his video conference testimony, the Brazilian forward lamented that the Atlético ultras went to such lengths to denigrate and humiliate him because of his skin color. 'They attacked my honor,' lamented Vinicius, convinced that he is the target of racist attacks for being black and because he is hated in Spain and, above all, by fans of the eternal rival who insult him and dedicate offensive chants to him inside and outside the Metropolitano. The prosecutor in the 'Vinicius case' has requested up to four years in prison for the Atlético radicals charged with a crime against fundamental rights and public liberties, in its form against dignity, and another of threats.