Racist insults in Diedhiou: it was not the first time “The measure was full, so you can’t play”

Marco Russo of San Michele Salsa: «Enough with this ignorance». La Cisonese: “We are dejected, but without blame”

/ VITTORIO VENETO

“There were no conditions to stay on the field.” This is how Marco Russo explains why on Sunday he proposed to his captain, Miki Sansoni, to withdraw their San Michele Salsa from the Cison field after his teammate Ousseyne Diedhiou had been the subject of a racist insult. The anger mounted in a moment and for having given the ignorant to that spectator, the pievIgino entrepreneur Vincenzo Signorotto, father of a Cisonese footballer, got red.

«Nobody on the field has gone further. I limited myself to calling him ignorant, but when I saw myself expelled I approached the captain and offered him to leave. It was a spontaneous reaction: I had already heard insults of this type in other games, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back, ”says Russo. Yet he is not entirely proud of what he did: in cold blood he knows that it would have been better to talk to the referee without going to the stands, but he really couldn’t stand it anymore: “At that moment I was only interested in defending my partner team, which had no reaction: I have known him for four years, we have an extraordinary relationship even off the pitch. The insults from the stands are a matter of ignorance, worse if racist. Despite everything, however, I really appreciate the apologies of the person concerned addressed to my partner: I don’t think that man realized what he said “, says the player referring to the” shut up, black man “who caused the suspension of the game. . He is interested in the right thing about what the sports judge will decide: «Maybe some other team will do it too. We must educate to respect and integration from an early age. Here with us it doesn’t exist at all, neither in football nor at work. Insults that are personal are not acceptable, ”thunders Russo.

For his part, the Cisonese coach Michele Cavecchia on Monday evening spoke to his boys, finding an atmosphere as relaxed as possible: «The team does not feel responsible for what has happened, even if it dissociates itself from those words. Adama Dieme, The black boy who plays with us is without resentment, as it should be towards those who really could not do anything. We condemn the episode: I spoke to Angelo, the son of whoever shouted that word, and he is downcast. But he can’t pay for a mistake made by his dad », is the summary of the coach.

San Michele Salsa awaits the decision of the sports judge, counting – on Sunday – to return to the field to look only for the three points: «We do not want to go beyond what happened: we are waiting for the sports judge. I do not judge Vincenzo Signorotto, but perhaps it was better that he had gone away or that someone had removed him after the game », says sporting director Manuel Scottà, determined to confirm and condemn the racist insult he received from Diedhiou. –