If only Abraham Lincoln was around to visit the Italian national team's preparations for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. In 1858, the former president famously said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Clearly, fans of the Italian national team didn't get the memo.
During a training session at the Coverciano on Wednesday, AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli was subjected to racial abuse from his own compatriots. The 23-year-old, while preparing with the rest of the Italian national team, felt the heat of onlookers as they shouted "black piece of [expletive]" towards him (per the Guardian).
Undoubtedly, these were the same Italian national team fans that witnessed Balotelli's thunder strike in the 2012 Euros, transforming those five aforementioned words into fervent cheers. That memory must've slipped their mind.
Balotelli shared no initial response, but reportedly told his teammates later, "This only happens in Rome and Florence."
The fact that a soccer player can calmly pinpoint the exact locations of racial abuse speaks to a much larger issue plaguing Italian football. Per the Independent, law enforcement had to intervene in this incident. Italian football chief Giancarlo Abete offered his disgust.
"This is unacceptable behavior. This should not happen," Abete said.
"We will take this episode into account."
All apologies to Abete, but more has to be done than take episodes "into account."
Racism continues to be a repugnant blemish plaguing the footballing world. A banana thrown in the direction of Barcelona defender Dani Alves in April sparked a social media campaign in which a multitude of players said no to racism by claiming, "We're all monkeys."
That's cute. Unfortunately, no tweet nor instagram post is enough halt bigotry. Action, not hashtags, must take place if real change is to come.
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