Il Udine city council ha failed the proposal to grant citizenship to the AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignanoffended with racist insults during the match againstUdinese at the Friuli stadium, on January 20th. The votes alone were not enough to pass the proposal majority but they were needed three-quarters of the votes of the councillors. 13 councilors voted against, the majority with 25 votes in favour. The minority of centre-right voted solidly against the mayor’s proposal Alberto Felice De Tonihead of an administration of centre-left.
“I take note with sorry that the center-right was not at our side in this delicate moment. The opportunity was missed to demonstrate that our city is united and that it clearly distances itself from what happened, which, although frequent in different stages and implemented by a few individuals, does not represent the city in the slightest. Nor our fans”, was the mayor’s immediate comment. “Our intent was twofold: a strong, highly symbolic stance against any type of discrimination. And the defense of our city and our fans from unfair accusations,” continued the mayor.
De Toni pointed out that many ministers – Matteo Plant yourselfAndrea AbodiMatteo Salvini – of the same color as the councilors who voted against “they held a very hard line”. The tone of the opposition is different, entrusted to the former mayor, the Northern League member Pietro Fontanini: “I am convinced that citizenship should not be conferred because it might seem like anremedial action for a fault that the Friulians do not believe they have.” By “practice and tradition – continued Fontanini – honorary citizenship is recognized to personalities who have concretely contributed to socio-cultural well-being of citizens”. The Maignan affair “does not fall within these cases”, which, however, “must undoubtedly be firmly condemned”.
The goalkeeper of Milan after hearing the insults coming from some Udinese ultras he returned to the team locker rooms, abandoning the field. The referee Maresca had suspended the match for 5 minutes (and then said he was “very sorry”) and several players from the Juventus club had brought their solidarity to the footballer. The reactions from the entire world of football, including the president of FIFA, were very harsh Gianni Infantino went so far as to ask for a revision of the rules for similar cases with the defeat by default.
Following the decision of sports judgeUdinese will play next home match – scheduled for February 3rd – a closed doors. In his reasons, the sports judge underlined “objectivity severity of the facts described and reported, which entailed the adoption of the measures envisaged by the specific procedural protocol contained in the federal regulations” and had noted “that they were not reported, during and after the facts, and despite the 2 announcements to the publicclear manifestations of dissociation from such intolerable behaviors by the remaining supporters.”
So far they have been identified 4 responsible for the chants against Maignan. One of them – who has already received a Daspoi.e. the ban on attending sporting events, of 5 years – repeated the racist insult against AC Milan’s French goalkeeper 12 times. The whole thing had been immortalized by a videowhich ended up on social media in the days following the match, which Milan then won for 3-2 comeback in the final minutes.