A youth academy player left the pitch in tears after hearing racist comments from his opponent’s manager at a tournament in Brazil.
It’s never alright to racially abuse someone. But when a child is the one affected, it somehow seems even worse. Although many intervenients have said there’s no place for racism in football, cases like what happened in Brazil keep surfacing. It shows us that we need to do better and more as a society.
Two days ago, Uberlandia Academy’s Under 11 team won their match at a youth tournament. However, their player Luiz Eduardo left the pitch in tears. Naturally alarmed, his parents rushed to the young athlete’s side to understand what was troubling him. Visibly perturbed, Luiz confessed the words he had heard from his opponent team’s manager.
“He (the manager) said ‘secure the black one, secure the black one there’. I didn’t react and told my parents at the end of the game. He said it many times,” said the young boy.
The Brazilian youth academy mentioned in the post that they filed a complaint with the Military Police in Brazil. “We manifest that we’ll go to the last instances in defense of our student and against another deplorable act that stains the image of football.”
However, Set Esportes manager Lazaro Caiana denied the accusations to Brazilian news outlet R7.
“Almost all our coaching staff descends from black people, I have no reasons to do it.” Additionally, he claimed that the Uberlandia Academy coach was the one insulting his players.
As the case turns viral, Everton player Richarlison showed his support to the young athlete on his social media page: “God bless you kid, move on forward,” said the Brazilian international.
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