TEARFUL SOCCER STAR VOWS TO FIGHT RACISM

Racism reduced Brazilian footballer Vinicius Jr. to tears at a press conference this week. The Real Madrid star says he faces constant abuse during games in Spain, but little is done about it.

There were 10 incidents of racism against him in La Liga last season, from monkey chants to death threats. Authorities handed out fines and stadium bans to a handful of offenders, but that’s done nothing to the stop the racism. This season the 23-year-old has been targeted by fans at Sevilla, Barcelona, Valencia and Athletic Madrid. Last week, Real filed a complaint against a referee who omitted from his match report alleged racist abuse towards Vinicius during the game against Osasuna. Last night, Brazil played Spain in a friendly in Madrid, with organisers promoting the anti-racism slogan ‘One Skin.’

While Vinicius was applauded by reporters during his tearful press conference, others accuse him of ‘provoking’ players and fans. It’s a vile situation, which the player admits he can’t do anything about, apart from keep playing.

Brazi’ls coach, Dorival Júnior, says clubs and police should be doing more to address issues like this. He recently told the Guardian ’It should be possible to track down the people if the police put their mind to it.’

What would you do? What should be done? Tell us in the comments.