Sulley Muntari made headlines last week for a truly shocking situation, in which he was booked for complaining to the referee about vile racist abuse he was subjected to in a Serie A game in Cagliari. When he walked off the pitch in protest, he was booked again, and sent off. Though his one match ban was later rescinded, the whole story has once again brought to light the issue of racism in Italian football, and even worse, the culture of victim blaming from a football establishment who don't seem interested in tackling the issue.
The former Portsmouth midfielder, though from Ghana, has played in Italy for the vast majority of his professional career, having first moved to Udinese as a 17 year old, and it's not the first time he's had to deal with this kind of treatment from idiots in the stands.
Now, in a brilliant interview with BBC Sport's David Ornstein, he says that racism is "everywhere and getting worse" and that FIFA and UEFA are not taking it seriously.
Interestingly, Muntari endorsed the idea that black players could walk off or strike in response to this kind of behaviour until the authorities take serious action.
If I had this problem today, tomorrow or the next game I would go off again. And I'd recommend it to others. If they are not feeling it they should walk off.
Fifa and Uefa only care about what they want to care about. If they want to fight racism they should be able to jump right in and tackle it,
But they have nothing to say about it. This is a big deal.
Maybe the new president Infantino will do something about it. He has a different mind.
I think he is capable of doing something in a good way to fight racism. I want him to fight racism.
While UEFA and FIFA have made all the right noises this week, that's not exactly new. In Italy in particular, this seems to be en endless problem and nothing really seems to change with these issues arising every now and then to shine a light on a constant problem. Four years ago, while playing for AC Milan, Kevin Prince Boateng stormed off the field after a section of the crowd began abusing him. That match was abandoned when his Milan teammates responded in kind. The football world reacted in outrage, and then things went back to normal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrKbz9FuV34
Four years on, and it's come full circle. It does seem if UEFA and FIFA aren't going to do anything about it. Muntari's extreme option may be very necessary.
