Calacus Weekly Hit & Miss – Serbian Firefighters & La Liga
Every Monday we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the previous week.
HIT – SERBIAN FIREFIGHTERS
Turning a negative into a positive is something we are often advised to do when problems occur – and using sport for the greater good is a fine way of showing that.
In the high-profile world of elite sport, every fit of pique is under the microscope and shared instantly throughout the world, as Portugal and Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo discovered during a recent international.
Portugal were drawing 2020 with Serbia before Ronaldo scored what he thought was a late winning goal.
The referee thought otherwise and did not award the ‘goal,’ prompting Ronaldo to furiously throw his captain’s armband to the floor as he walked off the field.
Replays showed that the Juventus striker's shot had crossed the line before Aleksandar Mitrovic was able to clear the ball away, but referee Danny Makkelie waved play on after consulting with his linesman, which he has now admitted was the wrong decision.
Makkelie said: “As per FIFA's policies, all I can say is that I apologised to the national coach, Fernando Santos, and to the Portuguese team for what happened. As a referee team, we always work hard to make good decisions. When we are in the news in this manner, it doesn't make us happy at all.”
Ronaldo later posted about his frustration on Instagram, saying: “Being captain of the Portugal team is one of the greatest pride and privileges of my life.
“I always give and will give everything for my country, that will never change. But there are difficult times to deal with, especially when we feel that an entire nation is being harmed.”
After the match, the armband was picked up by Djordje Vukicevic, a firefighter on duty, who decided with his colleagues from Belgrade’s firefighting brigade to collect money for the treatment of six-month-old Gavrilo Djurdjevic, who is suffering from spinal muscular atrophy.
Vukicevic said: “Ronaldo was agitated (and) he threw the armband, it fell right next to me. The entire crew agreed this (armband) will go for little Gavrilo.”
The three-day auction attracted controversy with some bidders trying to disrupt the process by bidding unrealistically huge sums.
According to Serbian state TV, an unidentified bidder secured the armband for $75,000 in the charity auction and Gavrilo's mother Nevena said proceeds from the sale would be a significant contribution to their treatment fund.
"We could not believe that some people who do not even know us... would take the armband, auction it and help our child," she said.
MISS – LA LIGA
Racism pervades every aspect of society and football is perhaps one of the most high-profile funnels where prejudice rears its ugly head.
The latest high-profile incident happened on Easter Weekend when Valencia walked off the pitch during Sunday's 2-1 La Liga defeat at Cadiz after Mouctar Diakhaby reacted furiously after a first-half clash with Cadiz's Juan Cala and spoke with the referee.
Valencia's players left the pitch in protest and the club said Diakhaby “received a racial insult.”
The players later returned and claimed that they were forced to continue or risk losing league points.
Valencia captain Jose Luis Gaya said Diakhaby was “devastated” and that he had been in no condition to keep playing.
Gaya added: “It was a very ugly insult. I won't say what it was. I was far away from the incident. Diakhaby looked very angry and animated and he told us that he had received a racist insult. That's why we headed off the pitch.
“We were told that we had to play because if we didn't, they would take the three points off us and maybe we'd be docked more points.
“Diakhaby asked us to play on. We wouldn't have done so if he hadn't done so. He said he wasn't in the right state of mind to keep playing. He is devastated.”
“It's lamentable that this kind of thing is still happening in football and a solution has to be put in place.”
Valencia said in an official statement: “The referee told the players about the potential consequences of not returning to the field. The players were forced to play after the threat of punishment.
“The team have held a meeting and decided to continue the game, in order to fight for the honor of the club but denounce racism of any kind.
“Today is a sad day for our sport. Today was not a loss in a game. It was a loss [of] respect, a loss of the spirit of football and sport.”
Cadiz said they were “against any manifestation of racism or xenophobia,” regardless of who the perpetrator was and that "they work hard to help eradicate" discrimination.
“Anyone guilty of such an offence, whether or not they belong to our team, must be punished. We have complete confidence in the integrity of our squad members, who are staunch supporters of the fight against racism.”
Cadiz boss Alvaro Cervera said that Cala “insists he did not insult” Diakhaby. “Cala says that at no point did he insult the opposition player.
“It's the fist time something like this has happened to us and we did not know how to react. There was a lot of confusion. We're a faithful, honest team and we don't do this kind of stuff. That's what I can say.”
The referee, David Medie, said in his report: “In the 29th minute, I interrupted the match, Diakhaby, after being shown a yellow card for arguing with an opponent, told me word for word 'he called me sh^**y black.”
In a press conference this week, Cala claimed that he is being “publicly lynched” and after denying the allegations, declared that he would leave football if Diakhaby's claims are proven true.
The Cadiz player went on to state that there is no proof against him and that he will pursue legal action against Valencia president Anil Murthy, adding that there is “no racism in Spanish football.”
That dismissive approach will win Cala no friends, but there is a wider issue here than racism occurring on the field. There have been previous issues in football, Spain being no exception, which have not led to protocols should players be affected by racism.
Valencia added: “We spoke with LaLiga to encourage them to also see their investigation through to the end. This incident cannot be left behind and cannot be repeated with any other player for any other team.
“We are saddened that, following the incident, there was no reaction to stop the game and that it was our players who were the ones to leave the field of play.
“We are proud of the reaction from our team and we still do not understand why Diakhaby, the recipient of this racial insult, received a yellow card.
“We also do not understand why the players had to return to the pitch due to the regulations not protecting the victims and the team in such cases.
“This must change. Changes have been made in other leagues and now the same must be done in Spain. We cannot turn a blind eye to something as serious as racism.
“It is time for a change and Valencia CF will go all the way in support of our player and the fight against racism. A step back in the fight against racism was taken yesterday.”
La Liga have confirmed that they are investigating the allegations with the La Liga president Javier Tebas facing scrutiny for the lack of protocols.
He said: “We are already carrying out an internal investigation with the videos and images of the game we have to clarify what happened.
“The accounts are contradictory but looking at the behaviour of the Valencia player you can see that something happened.”
The issue remains that Spanish football and indeed top level football around the world needs to quickly establish a process for racism incidents so that clubs do not feel that they will be punished if they are the victims of abuse.
All the outrage means nothing if those who are affected by prejudice fear that their team will be punished if they take action to support each other. That has to change.