Juventus” data-scaytid=”1″>Juventus President Andrea Agnelli made a speech at the UEFA Respect Diversity meeting on fighting racism.
Juventus President Andrea Agnelli made a speech at the UEFA Respect Diversity meeting on fighting racism.
With UEFA President Michel Platini among those attending, Agnelli outlined the club’s “ongoing pledge to focus on education as the key to tackling all forms of discrimination and promoting integration.
“Anti-discrimination, integration and education. These can be regarded as the three building blocks of a happy society – especially in this world I already described, a world in which people are moving from country to country at an unprecedented rate for working, studying and living abroad.”
Agnelli addressed why racism in Italian stadiums – and indeed society – is still an issue, because historically this country was not accustomed to mass immigration.
“For many decades now, the United Kingdom has witnessed very high levels of immigration, leading to a multicultural environment, not only in the big cities, but even in the countryside.
“From my experience of living and studying in England, I noticed how it is completely normal for British people to walk down the street, even in smaller towns, and see as many people of a different ethnicity as his or her own. This is the situation and most people are not concerned nor bothered by it. They are used to it and they get on with their daily lives.
“Italy is just waking up to this phenomenon of mass immigration. Of course, we were for many years a land of emigrants, but this is the first time in our history that we are seeing such numbers of people arriving on our shores and staying for long periods in order to make a living. The world has changed and Italy too is becoming a more multicultural country than ever before.
“There is no better example of this than the football pitch. Our teams and our changing rooms have become multicultural workshops, filled with players from all over the world. I only need to think of the Juventus line-up this year to count eight different nationalities that take to the field every weekend.
“When they put on those black and white stripes, our fans are not worried about where they come from. The Italian public has become accustomed to cheering for these men. They could be from Ghana, Argentina or Turin. All that matters, is they work together.
“The current World Champions Germany are made up of a group of footballers who were not necessarily born in the country. Their all-time leading goalscorer, Miroslav Klose, was born in Poland but has become an iconic figure for all of Germany.
“If we were to look at the Italian national side, we have a few players with Italian passports but with foreign heritage, who are becoming prominent figures for both club and country. It goes without saying that if Italy can include every component of its population in the same way as Germany, we would reap the benefits both on and off the pitch.
“The international nature of the modern-day football club makes this sport the perfect means through which we can tackle racism.”
Agnelli also noted the problem with ‘territorial discrimination’ – usually anti-Neapolitan or Southern Italian chanting that until this season was treated as racist abuse.
“Unfortunately, we still hear chants in football stadia, both in the form of racism and territorial discrimination between Italians.
“We all know that Italy is a country made up of different provinces with different ways of life – this is the cultural variety that should make us stronger as a people, yet we continue to turn a positive into a negative.
“Why do we need to look at our differences with anger and aggression? If Italy can win World Cups by coming together as a nation, this country can excel in all walks of life when we treat each other equally and unite properly.”
Juventus help sponsor anti-racism projects in schools in Piedmont.
“If we can open up people’s minds from a young age, they will grow up to become the responsible and respectful adults of tomorrow. These are the kind of people we also want to see at the Juventus Stadium, which already provides the best family atmosphere in Serie A.
“I believe that the wonderful initiatives we have come up with at Juventus are able to show that there are people working in Italy to overcome the ongoing problem of discrimination.
“The example set at our club is something that we hope other teams will follow attentively. Football has a responsibility to eradicate this problem and by pulling together in the same direction we will learn to respect each other’s differences.”