Brazil star Richarlison racially abused in Tunisia friendly

The Tottenham striker scored in the 19^th minute by nutmegging the opposition’s goalkeeper and headed over to the corner flag to celebrate his goal, where Tunisian supporters met him with a barrage of missiles, including a banana, a gesture with obvious racist connotations. Richarlison seemingly ignored this item as it fell at his feet before he returned to his position, although Manchester United midfielder Fred kicked the banana away and stared into the Tunisian stand.

Richarlison responded to the incident in an interview with Brazilian TV network BandSports saying “I don’t know what I could have done in the heat of the moment” if he had seen it and that he hopes the fan will be identified and punished. He went on to mention the recent incident with teammate Vinicius Jr., who faced hordes of fans chanting “Vinicius is a monkey” while playing for Real Madrid in a recent derby match against Atletico Madrid.

These two incidents stand as small parts of a much larger problem, as the world of football retains its reputation as a community of bigotry and prejudice. Countless infamous examples can be listed, from the monkey noises directed at Raheem Sterling in Bulgaria to the abuse that Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford received after missing their penalties in the 2020 Euros Final.

The discrimination isn’t limited to racism either, as homophobia also runs rife across the footballing world. The “Chelsea rent boys” chant often heard across UK grounds seems to most as merely targeting the Blues’ loanees, but it actually originates from a member of a Chelsea hooligan group being caught in bed with a male prostitute in the 1980s.

Richarlison took to Twitter to discuss the event, stating that “as long as they stay ‘blah blah blah’ and don’t punish,” things will never change. This rings all too familiar for long-term fans, as too often have offenders got off lightly with these sorts of things, receiving short-term bans or measly fines.

Birmingham striker Troy Deeney, an ex-teammate of Richarlison's at Watford, went on to state in 2019 that a one-strike policy should be implemented for these sorts of incidents. Gestures like taking the knee can help to raise awareness, but FIFA need to put their foot down harder and tighten up their rules. Richarlison clearly shares this same sentiment, ending his tweet with “it will continue like this, happening every day and everywhere. No time bro! #RacismoNão”.