Is it a coincidence that Vinicius receives the majority of insults?
thebes: “When one looks at this with perspective and studies the subject, one sees that the big players are ‘targets’ of racist and homophobic anger. It already happened to Messi and Cristiano. Vinicius is the best player in the competition and is suffering the wrath of the fans. His spectacular football generates a kind of animosity, but this does not mean that he is a provocateur. The insult is so serious that the honor of a player and a race must always prevail.”
The image of Vinicius pointing to a fan
thebes: “What did I feel? That something was happening and something had been said to him. The coward in the stands wanted to run away, I saw that something had happened. What do I have to tell Vinicius? He would apologize for the tweet and he would also tell her that we want to have powers to solve the problem. It is not a question that is within the sporting rivalry and the Prosecutor’s Office must understand it & rdquor ;.
The card withdrawn from Vinicius
thebes: “You have to understand that the three jurists of the Competition Committee were together for many hours. Your decision has a legal basis. When they consider that the expulsion of Vinicius is not correct because the key test is not correct, the test cannot be taken into account and, therefore, the card must be withdrawn. The fans will understand it or not, but the decision is profoundly legal. I am not going to do a seminar on evidence in the disciplinary field, but it is important to take all this into account.”
Supporter of closing stands and stopping matches
thebes: “The image is damaged when you do not take action. If there are screams, it is because it has not been worked correctly before. It is better to withdraw from the stadiums and stop than to continue ‘hiding’ the racists. Yes, I am in favor of all these types of actions & rdquor ;.
Eradication of insults
thebes: “We do not want any insults in our stadiums. Neither are those who are more socially accepted. We don’t want four, ten or a hundred brainless insulting our players. We won’t stop until we finish them off.”
Spanish Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia
thebes: “I am tired of cosmetics. It is not necessary to make meetings or declarations that are of no use. You have to act, go to court, denounce those who hung the doll against Vinicius… There is a lot of pick and little shovel. The Anti-Violence Commission works, but it is a body that does not have sanctioning powers. They can propose sanctions to those responsible for security in the provinces of Spain, but nothing more & rdquor ;.
complicated days
thebes: “We are all in the same boat, although sometimes there are battles that get confused. These have not been good days for me, I have been accused of racism and it has affected me. The important thing is that we continue to fight against racism and that it is very clear that we are persecuting these attitudes. Vinicius is a great player and I personally want him to continue in Spain.”
The lack of support from Madrid in the recent past
thebes: “It is not that Madrid has not supported us, but that it has not wanted to participate with the League in the complaints of racist insults. Madrid has not presented itself as a private accusation. On the other hand, if Vinicius decides to leave a field because they are insulting him, the League will support him. We will be by his side if he feels wronged & rdquor ;.
The figure of the referees
thebes: “The referees are the judges of the matches and it is the Technical Committee of Referees who must determine if they acted correctly or not. It is a body that depends on the Spanish Football Federation, not the League & rdquor ;.
fan education
thebes: “We have to denounce racist conduct, provide information about the place where it is occurring. Racist insults are crimes, this must be very clear. The majority of Spanish fans are not racist, but we must carry out awareness campaigns so that the fans help us identify the people who attack the players.”
Has the reaction been late?
thebes: “We came because we were advancing. In the case of Mallorca-Madrid, with the complaints and the collaboration of Mallorca, there are two fans who are sanctioned. We need more speed, these issues must be resolved immediately. We don’t want to take away anyone’s powers, but we believe that things have to change.”
The economic consequences
thebes: “We have been proactive and we have explained to our sponsors what we are doing. And not only the campaigns, which are very good, but also the facts. We are fighting and we have explained it to our sponsors. We have finished with the chants and we will put an end to the specific insults & rdquor ;.
The protection of the players
thebes: “We try to protect black footballers and of any race. In the professional and extra-professional field. Everything that affects the life and well-being of the players is our responsibility.”
possible performances
thebes: “Tomorrow a communication will go out to the minister, the president of the government and all the parties asking that the 2007 law against racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport be modified. We want to have competitions. We are studying the possibility of introducing disciplinary measures against our associates.”
Penalties too soft?
thebes: “You have to differentiate between protocol and sanctioning regime. As far as I know, there is a protocol. It was applied, for example, in the Zozulia case. One thing is that there is a protocol and another is that it is complied with. Regarding sanctions, in Spain only points have been removed for improper alignments, not for racist reasons. In the Premier, for example, yes. I think it would be good if we start thinking about this topic, it could go well. I am concerned about the racist image that Spain is projecting outside our borders.”
The Premier League, an example against racism?
thebes: “I am not going to enter into comparisons. I hear versions of all colors. They are very sensitive issues, what happens in other leagues is not my concern.”
The image of Spanish football
thebes: “If I wasn’t worried, I’d be crazy. Of course I’m worried. Spanish football is not racist. LaLiga has worked and will continue to work to eradicate racist insults. When you take a hit, you have to try to recover. We will not be crying. We will work to recover the lost reputation.”
Those arrested by the doll threatening Vinicius
thebes: “The names and surnames appear in the car. Atlético de Madrid will have full knowledge of the detainees. They are not going to enter any Spanish football stadium again & rdquor ;.
Have you spoken with Vinicius?
thebes: “No, we haven’t talked recently. It’s better that everything calms down more. I have no problem talking to him, but you have to leave some time to explain. I hope Vinicius stays so that we can make it clear to him that we are an organization that fights against racism.”
The operation of the Competition Committee
thebes: “I think that sanctions should have been more severe in the past, but the Prosecutor’s Office considered that they were disputes and sports rivalries. After three years of the Iñaki Williams case, we have managed to get four people to sit on the bench for those accused of insults. It can’t be that everything is so slow.”
Criticism of Vinicius
thebes: “I didn’t want to criticize Vinicius. I made a mistake. It may be that he made a mistake, but he was completely focused on fighting racism. That’s how I’ve done it all my life. In life you cannot be sectarian. I did not intend to criticize Vinicius, but to explain that we were doing many things to fight against racism. I understand that he doesn’t know how it all works, but I am also frustrated that there are no solutions. We need to have the skills. We denounced some insults in an Osasuna-Madrid that he did not listen to. We are very aware because he is a great player and, as was the case with Cristiano Ronaldo or Leo Messi, he is one of those who receives the most insults & rdquor ;.
Madrid’s accusations of passivity
thebes: “This question corresponds to Madrid. We, whenever we have done some performance, we have communicated it to Real Madrid& rdquor ;.
Criticism of the Prosecutor’s Office
thebes: “We will continue campaigning against racism. We want skills to be able to really solve the problem. It is very difficult for us to do so if the Prosecutor’s Office files the cases arguing that the insults are the result of sports rivalry.”
Thebes sticks out her chest
Before the questions from the journalists, the president of LaLiga is reviewing all the racist chants that have been denounced in recent years, most of them against Vinicius and other players like Nico Williams. He assures that they are issues that he personally deals with and that if they have not had consequences, it is, according to his point of view, because the Prosecutor’s Office has been filing them and the Federation has reacted with fines of derisory amounts. “In many cases we have been alone. No one has accompanied us. Neither Vinicius, nor Real Madrid nor any other club. Alone”, he laments.
The persecution of racism
thebes: “The disciplinary powers correspond to the Spanish Football Federation. We have been asking for them for more than two and three years. We have been denouncing racist chants for a long time that only end in fines & rdquor ;. The president of the League recalls the complaint against Espanyol fans who seriously insulted Iñaki Williams.
Introduction of Thebes
thebes: “My relationship with Vinicius is good. In 2021, after a bad season for him, in a presentation by a sponsor they asked me who could replace Messi. I replied that Vinicius. He is a different player, with an overflow that is not usual. I am convinced that, in the future, he will win the Ballon d’Or. I say this because I think he is a very important asset for Madrid and Spanish football. At LaLiga we have spent many years fighting against racism, homophobia and any insult. When I became president, racist and homophobic shouts were widely heard in the stands. To Cristiano Ronaldo, to Messi… We insisted that this should disappear from the stadiums and it has. The fields cannot be centers of insults. We started a battle that we have won, but not without personal cost: for many years I had to carry a personal escort& rdquor ;.
This is Thebes
Begin the press conference of the top leader of the employers’ association.