AC Milan responds to racial abuse towards youth team

Once again, soccer and racism on the pitch make strange bedfellows. Sadly, any movement will be seen as cosmetic.

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Serie A soccer power AC Milan’s youth team is not only competing in the Universal Cup in Forte dei Marmi, as they are also competition with soccer’s darkest reality. During Sunday’s 4-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain, the team’s black players were subject to racist chants in Tuscany, Italy.

AC Milan released a statement condemning the racist chants:

"“It has been brought to our attention however that during yesterday’s match between Milan-PSG, that there was alleged incidents of racism from certain “people” in the stands towards Milan’s black players.We do not wish to magnify the issue, but truly hope that these reports aren’t true or that it was simply a sporadic incident. If they were to be confirmed, then it would be simply unacceptable.”"

As crazy as this sounds, racially-based chants in European soccer is considered normal. Ask Italian national team striker Mario Balotelli and former Milan player Kevin-Prince Boateng about racism on the pitch?

These incidents pile up year after year. The team, or a team’s fan base, is publicly shamed. Next, some sort of proclamation is made. Finally, things ultimately go back to a twisted form of normalcy. The club’s comments shows how tone deaf they are to the concerns of their players. Instead of having an uncomfortable conversation on what’s obvious, they would rather sidestep a polarizing issue.

Wright Thompson, senior writer for ESPN.com, once wrote a longform read for ESPN The Magazine called ” When The Beautfiul Game Turns Ugly.” Thompson said this about his time in Italy:

"“I’ve given up hope of ever fully understanding the fractured things I saw while chasing the Serie A soccer circus around Italy. Let me be honest. I got sent to write about racism, which I found in staggering amounts. But Italy isn’t like America, and racism there is tied into a thousand years of feuds, and hatred of anyone different, even if they’re from only a few miles away, and fascism, and the recent wave of immigration. That’s all in here, but it’s unfair to hide my predicament, which became clear after only a day or two. I’d fallen into a parallel universe of contradictions.”"

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