Rugby, Traorè denounces “A rotten banana as a Christmas present from a friend”

A rotten banana, closed in a wet bag, as a “secret” Christmas present from a teammate. It was received by the Benetton Treviso prop – and national blue – of Guinean origin Cherif Traoré, who publicly denounced it on his Instagram profile as a racist gesture. In the comment to the post, accompanied by a totally black image, Traoré adds that when it was time to open the “gift”, “besides considering the gesture offensive, the thing that hurt me the most is seeing most of my comrades present laugh. As if everything were normal.”

«I’m used to – continues the player – or rather, I’ve had to get used to having to make the best of a bad situation every time I hear racist jokes to try not to antagonize the people around me anyway. Yesterday was different though.” Fortunately, he adds, “some comrades, especially foreigners, have tried to support me”.

«Outside Italy a gesture like this is seriously condemned even within small realities, and this time I want to have my say… I have decided not to remain silent this time to ensure that episodes like this never happen again to prevent other people from finding themselves in my current situation in the future. And hoping – he concludes – that the sender learns a lesson.

“With reference to the post that appeared this morning on the social profiles of the green-and-white player Cherif Traore, Benetton Rugby wishes to reiterate that it has always condemned with the utmost firmness any expression of racism and/or form of discrimination – reads a note from Benetton – . They are not part of our culture and do not represent our identity and our values. We have always demonstrated it with deeds, not just with words, and we will continue to support it strongly».