On September 16, Mamadou Doumbia, coach of the amateur football team of Olympique Lyon Sud (from the merger of Saint-Genis-Laval and Pierre-Bénite), announced his resignation due to racist comments made against him and its players.
In a Facebook post, spotted by Progress, the coach wrote: “They count the number of black people while we see a nice group of friends. It’s too much ! “. The former Ivory Coast international was followed by a dozen of his footballers.
“This is Zambia”
Interviewed by the local newspaper, he explained: “We are leaving because I am criticized for having too many black people on the team. I’ve already experienced racism in stadiums, monkey cries, and other things that didn’t affect me directly. But when it’s guys from your own management who act like that. […] On the one hand, I am annoyed for all the good work and impeccable behavior of many volunteers, but there are things that can no longer be kept quiet at a certain point. »
One of the footballers, who also left the club, heard other racist remarks such as “it’s Zambia here” and “it’s too tan”. Another player says that “the vice-president said in a meeting that parents of players had come to tell him that there were too many black people and that it was not representative of Saint-Genis-Laval”.
But if the majority of the squad decided to leave Olympique Lyon Sud, it is mainly because of the lack of reaction from management. Mamadou Doumbia assured that he had alerted her but “nothing was done”. According to him, the management team reacted only after his post on social networks. “I was criticized for it because it harmed the club’s image,” he said. Asked by several media, the president of the club did not wish to comment on the matter, explaining that he was focusing “on the athlete”.