Nadir Hifi, the leader of Paris Basket, denounced “monkey cries” during the Eurocup match played Tuesday evening in Badalona, Spain, the organizing body of the competition subsequently indicating that an investigation had been opened .
“I’ve never seen that in my entire life. Monkey cries during our match in Badalone… It’s 2023 and there’s still nothing changing, it’s very serious” wrote the Franco-Algerian on his account X (formerly Twitter) after the success of Paris (101-94).
I don’t know what’s worse: the racist behavior of @Penya1930 fans or the fact that this shit happens every year without anything changing.
Cowardly behavior from fans who seem to think that it’s acceptable and normal.
Are you guys gonna do anything about this @EuroCup? https://t.co/pD8MBXeqqX
— Michael Kessens (@MikeDoubleK) November 14, 2023
His teammate, the German-Swiss Michael Kessens, added, in response to this message: “I don’t know which is worse. The racist behavior of the supporters of @Penya1930 (Club Joventut Badalona, Editor’s note) or the fact that this shit happens every year with nothing changing. Cowardly behavior from fans who seem to think it’s acceptable and normal. Are you going to do something about it @Eurocup?”
Indeed, the Badalone club, an industrial city in the northern suburbs of Barcelona, has already been the subject of denunciation of this type of racist cries in the past, such as in February 2023 where a young woman was filmed uttering insults. of this type during a European match.
The insult from the girl of the detrás, “¡Mono!”, is indignant, but the laughs of those who accompanied her were her más.
Fue in the party between Joventut and the R. Ulm, in the Olympic of Badalona. Yes, Badalona de nuevopic.twitter.com/0KwsTpqQhr
— Spanish Revolution (@Spanish_Revo) February 10, 2023
Paris Basket announced in a press release that it had “been brought to the club’s attention that several of our players suffered racist insults from more than one spectator during the match”.
“Prevent this from happening again”
Euroleague Basketball, which organizes (in addition to the Euroleague) the Eurocup, the second European competition, indicated in a press release that the accusation made by Nadir Hifi had “already been reported to it” and that it “was the subject an investigation by the competent bodies”. “If the available video images show the reported facts and if the perpetrators are identified, Euroleague Basketball will take all necessary action to prevent this from happening again,” it added.
Paris Basket specified that it would “work with the management of the EuroCup and the Joventut Badalone club to determine the next steps relating to these facts in order to prevent this type of behavior from happening again”.
For his part, the president of the French Basketball Federation (FFBB), Jean-Pierre Siutat, “will quickly contact the Spanish Federation as well as the leaders of the EuroLeague so that appropriate measures are taken in the face of this behavior unacceptable” indicated the FFBB.