COLUMN: Spain’s Racism Paradox -The “Non-Racist Country” With Racists in The Stadiums

In his notorious press conference last week, Vinicius Junior pointed out what seems to be the fundamental contradiction of the current debate about racism in La Liga: “I am sure Spain is not a racist country, but it is a country where there are many racists, and they go to football stadiums.”

Since he is the superstar of one of the two biggest clubs in the country and is outspoken on the issue, Vinicius has become the lightning rod for discussions about racism in La Liga. However, he is far from the first case and will not be the last.

While many Real Madrid fans support Vinicius in his efforts against racism, last month, there was also a group of supporters who gladly launched racist and xenophobic abuse at Peter Federico, a Spanish-Dominican player from Madrid’s own academy who is currently playing in Valencia. The same Valencia club whose players walked off the pitch when their teammate Mouctar Diakhaby was getting racially abused but where a group of fans were also involved in one of the most prominent incidents of racism against Vinicius. Many Valencia fans also hit back against their own player, Yunus Musah, after he spoke out about the racism he saw in the stadium back then.

Similarly, last year Sevilla had to expel one of their fans from the stadium for abuse towards Vinicius, yet this weekend in Getafe’s stadium, their own player Marcos Acuna, as well as coach Quique Sanchez Flores, were called ‘monkey’ and ‘gypsy’, respectively by opposition fans. On that note, Real Madrid fans at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium yelled ‘Vallecanos, junkies, and gypsies’ for so many years at Rayo Vallecano fans, who the latter ended up appropriating the chant and singing it themselves in a satirical way.

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