Italy’s football league Lega Serie A has received widespread criticism after selecting paintings of three monkeys to adorn the walls of its Milan headquarters as it launched an anti-racism campaign on Monday. The artwork was commissioned following the ongoing accusations of racism within Italian football.
Paintings depicting “western, Asian and black monkeys” as part of an anti-racism campaign are meant to show “we are all the same race,” according to the artist. However,it was condemned as ‘sick joke’ by the critics. With this trio of paintings I would like to show that we are all the same race,” artist Simone Fugazzotto said.
The league’s chief executive, Luigi de Siervo, said that “football is an extraordinary tool for conveying positive messages, fair play and tolerance.” He added that the paintings “fully reflect these values” and would remain on show.
The artwork has received a great deal of criticism on social media, for example from Football Against Racism Europe, which tweeted that the campaign “looks like a sick joke” and was an “outrage.”
One of the country’s leading clubs AS Roma said it was “very surprised to see what appears to be an anti-racist campaign featuring painted monkeys on social media today,” “We understand the league wants to tackle racism but we don’t believe this is the right way to do it,” the club said on its English-language twitter feed.
The campaign has also been criticised by ex-pros including former Liverpool star Stan Collymore, who wrote on Twitter: “Fantastic to see Serie A anti racism campaign posters (yes, it’s really real). Maybe get the mascots to black up as a finishing touch.”
His feelings were echoed by former Sheffield United player Jan Age Fjortoft, who tweeted: “What is wrong with people??? Are there no sensible people running Serie A??”
The artist said the intention behind the images were to “turn the concept back on the racists, as we are all monkeys originally”. Serie A has stood by the paintings, saying: “True art is provocation.”
General manager Luigi De Siervo said: “Simone’s paintings fully reflect the values of fair play and tolerance, so will remain in our headquarters. “The Lega is taking a strong stand against any form of prejudice.
We realise racism is an endemic problems and very complex, so we are facing it on three fronts – cultural, via works of art such as Simone’s paintings, sporting through a series of initiatives and players and clubs, and also repressive, thanks to the collaboration with the police.
“By acting on these three levels, we are sure that we can win the most important match against this plague that is ruining world’s most beautiful sport.” He added.
Earlier in December an Italian sports newspaper came under fire for the headline “Black Friday” next to images of two black Serie A footballers.
Racism in association football is the abuse of players, officials, and fans because of their skin colours, nationality, or ethnicity. Italian football have been blighted by the incidents of racism for quite long.
Football associations and the society need to dig deeper in order to root out racism. Yet incidents of racism in football crowds are today so news worthily rare that they are dissected on the Match of the Day highlights programme along with the goals.
The fact is that, over the last decade, awareness of the problems associated with racism and the exclusion of ethnic minorities have increased tremendously. Today, the idea of campaigning against racism in football has taken root in many European countries. Many professional football clubs, national associations and international federations, such as the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), have spoken out against racism and taken firm disciplinary actions against offenders.
Even after continuous efforts to peace out and make football free of racism, the activities targeting the players are frequent. Although the campaign has turned out be outrageous, the root cause still persists and has become parasitic feeding on our very own, humanistic values.
