The Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) and the Benetton club of Treviso announced on Thursday that a player had been suspended because of a racist gesture committed at the dawn of the holidays against a teammate from Guinea .
Chérif Traoré (represented in the photo above) would have received a rotten banana from a few associates, as a Christmas present, according to the renowned Rugbyrama website. During a gift exchange, he ended up with the fruit in a damp garbage bag.
The victim also denounced the gesture on his Instagram page. He said he hadn’t slept all night as he thought about the scope of this clumsy action.
“Besides seeing the gesture as offensive, the thing that hurt me the most was seeing most of my companions in attendance laughing. As if everything was normal”, mentioned Traoré.
“I’m used to, or rather, had to get into the habit of having to put on a good face every time I hear racist jokes to try not to make any close enemies anyway. Yesterday [mardi]it was different though,” added the 28-year-old.
On social networks, the Treviso club and the FIR indicated in a joint statement that an investigation by the federal prosecutor had been launched.
The team also took the decision to suspend one of its players for the duration of the investigation. However, the identity of the alleged culprit has not been disclosed.