Serie A have condemned the racial abuse suffered by Romelu Lukaku on Sunday and even announced plans for a new initiative in October.
The Inter striker was met with monkey chants by fans in the crowd of the Sardegna Arena as he stepped up to fire home from the penalty spot in the Nerazzurri’s 2-1 victory.
It isn’t the first time this has happened in Sardinia, with Moise Kean and Blaise Matuidi subjected to similar abuse in the past two seasons. As a result the league’s governing body has launched a campaign that will look to educate supporters, with the new initiative set to kick off in October.
“The President of Lega Serie A, Gaetano Micciche, and the CEO, Luigi De Siervo, express Serie A’s strong condemnation in relation to the incident of racism which involved the Nerazzurri footballer Romelu Lukaku,” read a statement.
“Lega Serie A has always been against all forms of discrimination and is strongly committed to countering a heinous phenomenon that, though perpetrated by a few stupid people, damages the whole system.
“In October, a national and international initiative will be launched, involving the 20 Serie A teams, with the aim of making every supporter aware of such a delicate and important issue.
“Each club will be asked to select their own player, who will become part of Serie A’s ‘Team Against Racism’, a testimonial that will be the bearer of the values of respect and equality in the first person.
“Racism is a cultural problem, everyone’s commitment will be needed, from experts to fans, to spread a positive, consistent and appropriate model for a civilised country like Italy through its stadia.”
Lukaku himself has spoken out about the incident, stating he hopes all football federations step up and take a strong stance against discrimination.
“Many players in the last month have suffered from racial abuse,” he wrote on his Instagram account.
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“I did yesterday too. Football is a game to be enjoyed by everyone and we shouldn’t accept any form of discrimination that will put out game in shame.
“I hope the football federations all over the world react strongly on all cases of discrimination!!
“Social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) need to work better as well as with football clubs because every day you see at least a racist comment under a post of a person of colour.
“We’ve been saying it for years and still no action… Ladies and gentlemen it’s 2019, instead of going forward we’re going backwards and I think as players we need [to] unify and make a statement on this matter to keep this game clean and enjoyable for everyone.”
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com