BVB youngster Abdoulaye Kamara has been a victim of racism twice in a row in the UEFA Youth League. Both times the opponent was FC Sevilla and, according to Ruhr Nachrichten, the attacks were repeatedly made by Alejandro Vazquez. After the game, Dortmund were justifiably annoyed that the reactions of the referees and UEFA officials were not as desired. BVB has now commented in a public letter and UEFA has launched an investigation.
Although it was well known that BVB had already heard racist attacks at the first meeting with Sevilla, those responsible for the second leg were not able to protect the victim and get the perpetrator off the soccer field. BVB has now issued an official statement and complains of a lack of awareness among the referee team and the opponents . And here is an extremely bad feeling towards FC Sevilla and its players as well as towards the referee team,” explained Lars Ricken, director of the BVB youth academy, in this. The Dortmunders had been assured of increased sensitivity due to the previous history. “But when it came to that, and Abdou Kamara had contacted the fourth official as agreed, the referees dismissed the obvious monkey noises as not unequivocally racist statements,” Ricken said, annoyed at the lack of awareness. This was also the reason why BVB, despite prior announcement, did not want to end the game at halftime and stayed on the pitch until the end. “Unfortunately, the referee’s actions gave us the uneasy feeling that, in case of doubt, there would be testimony against testimony, and by not keeping to agreements and not following guidelines,” he explained. In the end, Borussia would have gone out of the game with no points and no evidence of racist incidents.
Packing your bags at half-time would certainly have been a more public statement, but the matter could perhaps have an aftermath. When asked by dpa, UEFA finally stated that an investigation into the incident would take place. It is to be hoped that the culprit(s) will then be held accountable.
This article was originally published on 90min.com as Youth League racism scandal: UEFA announce investigation into Kamara case.
