Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Italian Soccer Official Who Made Racist Comment Still Expected to Win Top Post - NYTimes.com

Italian Soccer Official Who Made Racist Comment Still Expected to Win Top Post - NYTimes.com: LONDON — If there is one thing, one joy, that Brazil has taught the world over the last half century, it is surely that soccer is a game for all races.

Yet Italy, which shared arguably the most beautiful final in World Cup history — against Brazil in 1970 — appears to be headed back to the dark ages of prejudice.

The goals that defeated Italy in that final 44 years ago were scored by Pelé, Gérson, Jairzinho and Carlos Alberto. No right-minded person could have questioned the mixed ethnic backgrounds of those players.

Now, however, in a knee-jerk response to Italy’s early elimination from the World Cup in Brazil, the leading candidate to head the country’s soccer federation made a public reference to Africans as “banana-eaters.”