September 12 – Spanish football will adopt FIFA’s new anti-racism ‘cross-arm’ gesture, the Spanish Royal Football Federation (RFEF) confirmed on Thursday.
Both the governing body as well as La Liga, the Spanish topflight, will introduce the gesture that FIFA rolled out at their recent Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, in their protocol.
In a statement, the RFEF said: “The Royal Spanish Football Federation, together with LALIGA, will incorporate the racist gesture that was approved at the last FIFA Congress held in Bangkok into the Protocol for Action on Public Incidents. An agreement that was adopted unanimously to continue fighting racism together and efficiently.”
Spanish elite football has long been blighted by incidents of racism. At FC Barcelona, Barcelona Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon suffered racism. More recently, Brazilian star Vinicius Junior has become the target of racists, but the Real Madrid star has become a vocal voice in the fight against discrimination. Earlier this year, three Valencia fans were convicted of racism.
The RFEF added: “The Protocol for Action against Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Football, which has been in place since 2005, is reinforced by this latest gesture specific to cases of racism, and is another step in the fight against racism, which ranges from regulations and sanctions to awareness and education to fight against any type of discrimination.”
Last May, global governing body FIFA introduced a ‘global standard gesture’ that allows referees “to signal the implementation of the three-step procedure to halt, suspend and ultimately abandon matches” in case a racist incident occurs. Spanish referees will now have the opportunity to use the cross-arm gesture to signal the three-step procedure will apply.
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