Treviso rugby player and Italian international Cherif Traorè revealed on Wednesday that one of his club team-mates gave him a rotten banana as a Christmas present, saying he would now speak out against the racism he has suffered. Of Guinean origin, the 28-year-old pillar, who plays for the Benetton club in Treviso, explained that he discovered a rotten banana in Christmas packaging when the players of the club were gathered to celebrate Christmas in advance and treated themselves to gifts. anonymous gifts.
“Not only is the gesture shocking, but what hurt me the most was seeing most of my teammates present laughing. As if everything was normal, ”denounced the player on his Instagram account, accompanied by an entirely black image.
“I’m used, or rather I had to get used to putting on a good face every time I heard racist jokes (…) but what happened yesterday was different,” he added. Young people “of diverse origins” took part in this event and “I have decided not to remain silent this time, so that incidents like this do not happen again (…) and in the hope that sender learns his lesson,” the player wrote.
In a statement, his club reiterated its “strong condemnation of any expression of racism and/or any form of discrimination”, adding that they are “not part of our culture and do not represent our identity or our values”. . Cherif Traorè has 10 selections for the Italian national team since 2019.