… is for cookie, that's good enough for me.
Italian football has experienced a recent glut of racial incidents that have marred the public image of both the game in Italy and its fans.
Italians were quick to condemn the violence and homophobia as Serbian hooligans disrupted a Euro 2012 qualifying match in Genoa back in October. Yet Italian fans proved they could be every bit as vile in Austria last week as they showered Mario Balotelli with boos and displayed provocative banners.
Balotelli responded with his usual tact, in one of La Gazzetta dello Sport’s “Blobs of the Week”:
“If the people who boo me were to meet me alone, one on one, off the terraces, they would ask for my autograph.”
As you can see, humility is not one of his strong suits. But if you ask me, he has every reason to be livid in this situation. As UF’s own NY Kid so astutely pointed out, he was being abused by his own fans and countrymen! And, to Balotelli’s credit, he hasn’t been shy about discussing the issue and seems determined not to let the actions of a few extremists derail his Azzurri career.
But the Manchester City forward knows this won’t be enough:
“I can’t do anything on my own, that’s for sure. Everyone needs to do something against racism.”
Sounds great. Anyone got any bright ideas?
La Gazzetta dello Sport just might: make Mario Balotelli Italy’s first ever captain of color for the friendly against Germany in Dortmund scheduled for February 9.
The article/proposal laments the current state of Italian fandom:
“Why is it that every time Holland and Ireland play, they are followed by troops of fun-loving orange and green troops, with wigs and trumpets, and all we export are extremists? Can’t the Italian Football Federation do something more to encourage normal fans to travel with their team – capable of covering the insane appeals to defend the race with cheers and applause?”
The paper suggests giving the armband to Balotelli for one night “to demonstrate not only that there are black Italians, but that they represent all of us.”
It is a bold suggestion by the paper and one that I have no objection to ideologically. Racism is obviously a huge problem in Europe as a whole, but Italy specifically has seen its reputation tarnished far too many times recently.
From a footballing standpoint on the other hand, I have some issues.
Obviously this is just a friendly, but to captain the Azzurri is considered an honor. Usually the captain is the player with the most caps which makes selection objective and normally representative of the player’s commitment, leadership, and skill.
Balotelli could no doubt blossom into a star someday for the Italian National Team but he has just 2 international caps and is still quite raw in terms of talent.
But forgetting about skill for a second, the 20-year old Balotelli has simply not displayed the type of character one would expect from a national team (non-English) captain. The word petulant can be found in every UF post regarding the striker and in any other situation I would find this whole idea patently absurd.
However, in light of recent events, I think it’s a pretty good idea.
It would be a visible, meaningful response to racism and would be a strong show of unity with both the player and with a multicultural Italy, which as Balotelli points out “already exists”.
Super Mario for captain, if just for one day. Let’s make it happen, people.
I’d love to see this (Crazy Mario as captain). Unfortunately, living in New Jersey I know tons of faux-italians (3rd and 4th gen italian-AMERICANS) who believe ****** can’t be Italian, and shouldn’t be on the italian national team. They’re usually the same people who defend Il Tratidore, but think Podolski, etc. are fake Germans. Really, it’s amazing how stupid some people can be, and very sad as well.
Also, I think he’s right about people who met him one on one asking for his autograph. I’d bet any amount of money if they met him one on one they wouldn’t have shit to say about what color his skin is. Eh, it all makes me very sad.
@TPRU – Oh I think he’s probably 100% correct, but most people still don’t know what to make of Mario Balotelli (if they don’t already dislike him) so if he wants to win supporters he still needs to polish up his act.
Any good Azzurri fan realizes we’ve already had many foreign-born players win World Cups with the team: Camoranesi the most famous example but their is a long list of south americans who have played, and even a few Brits.
ideologically, I think this is a fantastic (and definitely bold) idea, if one can get past the fact that Balotelli is a big baby