Why wait for a scoop on racism in Russian football when you can invent one? Western media did exactly that, reporting Zenit fans held a “dont sign black players” banner to greet new signing Malcom (spoiler: thats not true).
Last week, the Brazilian forward completed a Russian-record €40 million move after a brief, awkward spell at La Liga giants Barcelona and made his debut for the blue-white-skyblues in the 1-1 draw against Krasnodar on Sunday.
As if perpetually lying in wait for the slightest whiff of racism, the Western press ignored over 54,000 fans present cheering their new number 8 jogging onto the field, and instead followed their predatory instinct to focus on a tiny banner nestled into the corner of the ground.
The words “thank you leadership for believing in tradition” had been scrawled over a small white sheet and hung in the corner of the stadium. The message was a sarcastic swipe at club chiefs from a small pocket of fans who harbor the belief of investing in homegrown youth products rather than splashing mega bucks on foreign exports.
Cue the baying for Russian football fan blood.
First to gnash their jaws at the news were the English tabloid The Sun, who construed the message as a “shocking racist banner” protesting “black player Malcom” and before long the rumor wildfire had spread and the pack of hungry-for-hysteria football accounts pounced.
Among social medias ravenous rabble of injustice-seekers was Sporf, who went one further and tweeted to their 1.3 million followers that the banner read: “Keep our traditions the same and dont sign black players”.
Poor Russian translation could be forgiven and a blatant lie might have been laughed off as typically poor reporting, if it hadnt come from a highly influential sports fan platform whose clients include Team GB, Sky Bet and Bundesliga.
This seems to have been the result of a game of "Chinese whispers," as earlier other accounts had done the same thing, quoting the same half-poorly-translated, half-non-existent message and then pinging around the usual virtue-signalling one-liners such as “horrific” and “disgusting”.
Sporfs tweet was eventually deleted but not before Zenit could laconically respond by denouncing it as “fake news.”Other tweets from accounts totaling close to one million subscribers werent so quick to admit defeat. The damage had already been done by the sheer number of likes and interactions. Opinions had been formed, conclusions drawn, however right or wrong.
New Zenit signing Malcom was abused by his own fans with racist chants. The Russians held a banner saying: “Keep our traditions the same and dont sign black players.”
Horrific. pic.twitter.com/BQlYWYg5zb
— 360Sources (@360Sources) August 4, 2019
Zenit St Petersburg fans welcomed their new big money signing Malcom by holding up banner saying: “Keep our traditions the same and dont sign black players.”
Disgusting. pic.twitter.com/4er8h4HKtd
— FootballFunnys (@FootballFunnnys) August 4, 2019
It would of course be myopic to claim racism in Russian football doesnt exist, just as it would be to ignore Moise Keans treatment from rival Italian fans, or monkey chants directed at England players in Montenegro, both instances occurring mere months ago.
The traditions mentioned in the banner can appear to be a reference to the manifesto of Zenit fan Read More – Source
Why wait for a scoop on racism in Russian football when you can invent one? Western media did exactly that, reporting Zenit fans held a “dont sign black players” banner to greet new signing Malcom (spoiler: thats not true).
Last week, the Brazilian forward completed a Russian-record €40 million move after a brief, awkward spell at La Liga giants Barcelona and made his debut for the blue-white-skyblues in the 1-1 draw against Krasnodar on Sunday.
As if perpetually lying in wait for the slightest whiff of racism, the Western press ignored over 54,000 fans present cheering their new number 8 jogging onto the field, and instead followed their predatory instinct to focus on a tiny banner nestled into the corner of the ground.
The words “thank you leadership for believing in tradition” had been scrawled over a small white sheet and hung in the corner of the stadium. The message was a sarcastic swipe at club chiefs from a small pocket of fans who harbor the belief of investing in homegrown youth products rather than splashing mega bucks on foreign exports.
Cue the baying for Russian football fan blood.
First to gnash their jaws at the news were the English tabloid The Sun, who construed the message as a “shocking racist banner” protesting “black player Malcom” and before long the rumor wildfire had spread and the pack of hungry-for-hysteria football accounts pounced.
Among social medias ravenous rabble of injustice-seekers was Sporf, who went one further and tweeted to their 1.3 million followers that the banner read: “Keep our traditions the same and dont sign black players”.
Poor Russian translation could be forgiven and a blatant lie might have been laughed off as typically poor reporting, if it hadnt come from a highly influential sports fan platform whose clients include Team GB, Sky Bet and Bundesliga.
This seems to have been the result of a game of "Chinese whispers," as earlier other accounts had done the same thing, quoting the same half-poorly-translated, half-non-existent message and then pinging around the usual virtue-signalling one-liners such as “horrific” and “disgusting”.
Sporfs tweet was eventually deleted but not before Zenit could laconically respond by denouncing it as “fake news.”Other tweets from accounts totaling close to one million subscribers werent so quick to admit defeat. The damage had already been done by the sheer number of likes and interactions. Opinions had been formed, conclusions drawn, however right or wrong.
New Zenit signing Malcom was abused by his own fans with racist chants. The Russians held a banner saying: “Keep our traditions the same and dont sign black players.”
Horrific. pic.twitter.com/BQlYWYg5zb
— 360Sources (@360Sources) August 4, 2019
Zenit St Petersburg fans welcomed their new big money signing Malcom by holding up banner saying: “Keep our traditions the same and dont sign black players.”
Disgusting. pic.twitter.com/4er8h4HKtd
— FootballFunnys (@FootballFunnnys) August 4, 2019
It would of course be myopic to claim racism in Russian football doesnt exist, just as it would be to ignore Moise Keans treatment from rival Italian fans, or monkey chants directed at England players in Montenegro, both instances occurring mere months ago.
The traditions mentioned in the banner can appear to be a reference to the manifesto of Zenit fan Read More – Source
