Learning of this, got me so saddened, considering the fact that it keeps replicating itself over and over again. Iconic footballer, Mario Balotelli was abused racially by a Hellas Verona ultras supporters group.
However, it was quite better to hear that, at least something was done about it this time around. The Serie A club penalized the head of the supporters, Luca Castellini with an 11-year ban. He was banned until ’30th June, 2030′.
Moreover, it was noticed that the referee had to halt the game in the early parts of the second half, for a cautionary statement to be issued against the racial abuse chants.
However, the manager of Verona, Ivan Juric claimed he did not hear any racist chants from the home supporters after the game.
Also, on Monday the head of the fans in question still had the guts to say this in an interview:
“Balotelli is Italian because he has Italian citizenship, but he can never be completely Italian.”
Now, that was too much. And though he got punished for doing so, there should be a better way of deterring others too going forward.
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