Cape Town - Racism in LaLiga came under the spotlight again over the weekend when the Brazilian-born Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior was abused at Valencia's Mestalla Stadium.
Vinícius has been subjected to racist abuse from the stands on numerous occasions during La Liga matches over the past two seasons and last Sunday was no exception.
Late in the match, Vinícius was red carded for hitting Valencia's Hugo Duro but the Spanish football federation's Competition Committee, in an unprecedented event, declared the red card against Valencia null and void, less than 24 hours ago after the match.
After the match, Vinícius spoke out after being abused at Valencia. He spoke about "continuous (racism) episodes across several cities" and suggested LaLiga "belongs to the racists".
On Thursday, LaLiga president Javier Tebas called a press conference and said that with the correct legal framework, he can eradicate racism in Spanish football within six months.
“What we want is the power to do more things," said Tebas. "With the power, we are convinced within months this would be solved.
“We are going along the legal route, and I think in six months this will be at zero and we will be the best league in the world.
“The competencies we want are for those intolerable behaviours such as racism and homophobia.”
Considering the latest incidents, LaLiga will request more sanctioning powers, to be more agile and effective in the fight against violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport.
Tebas said LaLiga has been leading the identification and reporting of such behaviour in football stadiums for years, but the organization feels powerless when observing how its reporting ends.
"Despite its relentless fight against violence and racism to the full extent of its powers (which are currently, according to Spanish law, limited to identifying and reporting events), LaLiga feels tremendous frustration," said Tebas. "This is because of the lack of sanctions and convictions handed out by the sports disciplinary bodies, public administrations and jurisdictional bodies to which it reports."
Real Madrid has filed a hate crime complaint with the Spanish State Attorney General’s Office.
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