By David Gold
April 24 – Anzhi Makhachkala’s Roberto Carlos has told Russian football fans that “while you are throwing bananas I am fighting hunger in Brazil”.
The Brazilian full back (pictured top) was speaking during a minute-long anti-racism television advertisement aired in Russia.
Emmanuel Emenike, of Spartak Moscow and who was fined for obscenely gesturing at Dynamo Moscow fans after being racially abused, asks in the clip: “Why should I pay for being offended and having snowballs thrown at me?”
Meanwhile, CSKA Moscow and Ivory Coast’s Seydou Doumbia (pictured below), simply states: “I am the Premier League’s top scorer – that says it all.”
Carlos was at the mercy of banana-wielding supporters on his debut against Zenit St Petersburg and later against Krylya Sovetov last season; following the latter incident he walked off the pitch in protest.
This year has seen a series of racism cases in Russian football with a similar banana incident involving Carlos’ new team-mate, Christopher Samba.
In the advert, Carlos appears alongside compatriots Guilherme of Lokomotiv Moscow and Spartak Moscow’s Ari.
The advertisement was produced for the Russian television network Dozhd.
Dozhd is not one of the main networks but enjoys a particularly strong following among youngsters, and provided some of the most extensive coverage of this year’s protests after Russia’s disputed Presidential election.
Meanwhile, striker Vágner Love has slammed Zenit as “the most racist team in Russia”.
Love once played for Zenit’s fierce rivals, CSKA Moscow, and the Brazilian, now back in his homeland with Flamengo, spoke of his experience in Russia after suffering racist abuse in a Copa Libertadores clash with Emelec.
“In Russia similar things happened two or three times,” Love told Globo Esporte.
“It was always during the matches against Zenit, which is the most racist team in Russia… it’s their way.”
Racism, while a problem for some time, has been a constant issue since the Russian league season resumed at the start of March.
Although the Russian football authorities have been trying to fight racism and have set up a taskforce to do so, they have met with little success so far, and it is of particular concern with the World Cup coming to the country in 2018.
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