Napoli have warned the Lega Serie A in a formal statement they will ‘no longer participate’ in anti-racism initiatives after Inter defender Francesco Acerbi was cleared of abusing Juan Jesus.

The incident occurred during the 1-1 draw between the teams at San Siro on March 17.

Today the sporting justice system ruled there was “insufficient evidence” to penalise Acerbi, even though they believed that Juan Jesus sincerely felt he was racially abused and that Acerbi did not deny insulting the Napoli player, just not in racist fashion.

The club released an angry statement, which included this warning to the Lega Serie A.

“Napoli will no longer adhere to initiatives that are purely for show by the football institutions against racism and discrimination. We will continue to do them ourselves, the way we always have done, with renewed conviction and determination.”

This is going to be an issue straight away, because this weekend the ‘Keep Racism Out’ campaign is planned for Serie A fixtures.

Curiously, it was also the campaign in the weekend when Acerbi and Juan Jesus had their clash.

It involves ‘Keep Racism Out’ patches on all the jerseys, while coaches and clubs are asked to read out a brief anti-racism statement after television interviews.

There are also special captain’s armbands and the speaker in the stadium is also meant to read out that statement.

Napoli have pledged not to adhere to this campaign at all, considering it an empty gesture when accusations of racism on the pitch are dismissed.

That means they could snub all the slogans, patches and everything else around the initiative when hosting Atalanta on Saturday.

2 thought on “Napoli reject Serie A ‘Keep Racism Out’ campaign for Juan Jesus”
  1. Im in support of this man, something needs to be done about racism in italy.its getting worse everyday.

  2. Acerbi steadfastly claims that what he said was “ti faccio nero”, which literally means “I will make you black”. It’s like saying “I’ll bruise you black and blue” or “I’ll kick your arse” in English. There’s nothing racist about it, Italians say it to each other all the time. Get over it. If Italy is as racist as some people suggest, then why is it that the country accepts so many African refugees? Please correct me if I’m wrong.

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