Boca and Corinthians players tied on 17 May. (Photo AP / Gustavo Garello)
Boca Juniors once again received a sanction from Conmebol for racism. Late Friday the Disciplinary unit of the South American body reported the sentence against the Argentine body for the events that occurred at Bombonera last May 17 in the group stage match between the local and Corinthians from Brazil, which ended 1-1.
Conmebol’s decision was announced a few days after the first leg between the two clubs for the round of 16 Libertadores Cup. The first match will be played on Tuesday 28th at the San Pablo while the rematch will be played on Tuesday 5th July, at the Bombonera.
The disciplinary unit has ruled that Boca must pay a $ 100,000 fine which will automatically be deducted from the television and sponsorship rights and the team must display a flag with the legend “Enough of Racism” in their next home game. In addition, the giant screen of the stadium must also display the sentence throughout the match.
At Boca the sanction did not go well, but they were relieved not to receive another type of punishment that would have prevented them from having all the capacity of the stadium available for the rematch against Corinthians. The $ 100,000 fine they are added to the 30,000 that had already been applied to him for discriminatory gestures in the San Paolo match.
The great fear of Boca was the closure of the stadium since between one match and another with Corinthians Article 17 of the Disciplinary Code has been amended and the sanctions have been tightened upwith the possibility of “imposing the sanction of one or more games behind closed doors or the partial closure of the stadium”, on clubs whose fans “insult or harm the human dignity of another person or group of people, by any means, for reasons of skin color, race, sex or sexual orientation, ethnicity, language, creed or origin “.
Furthermore, at the same time as the sanctions increase, the body has launched a strong campaign to combat racism in South American football. “Football brings us closer, brings us closer, teaches us values, and one of the great values is respect for our rival. We can compete and encourage, but we cannot allow discrimination, much less racism,” said the president. Alexander Dominguez before the draw for the round of 16. “We will be intolerant, Conmebol is committed to putting an end to this culture that has become ferocious and ingrained,” he added.
The video of a fan who makes racist gestures to Brazilian torcedores went viral after the 1-1 draw on May 17 at the Bombonera. Corinthians himself issued a statement on the matter in which he considered “manifestations of racism unacceptable by Boca fans” and warned that he would have filed a formal complaint with Conmebol “to determine responsibility and sanctions”. The management of the Brazilian club sent two letters to Luque asking for the penalty e to play behind closed doors. But she didn’t make it.
In the new sentence and despite Boca being a repeat offender because even a fan had made racist gestures at San Pablo, Boca was given the aforementioned fine and cautioned “that in the event of a reiteration of any violation of the sporting discipline of an identical or similar nature (…), the Disciplinary Commission may determine the total or partial closure of the stadium for the next home game.
complete failure
“The Disciplinary Commission of CONMEBOL DECIDES
1 °) IMPOSE CLUB ATLÉTICO BOCA JUNIORS a fine of USD 100,000 (HUNDRED THOUSAND AMERICAN DOLLARS) for violation of article 17 of the CONMEBOL Disciplinary Code pursuant to article 31 of the CONMEBOL Disciplinary Code. The amount of this penalty will be automatically deducted from the amount to be received by the CONMEBOL Club for television or sponsorship rights.
2 °) I expressly NOTICE the BOCA JUNIORS ATHLETIC CLUB that in the event of a reiteration of any infringement of the sporting discipline of an identical or similar nature to that which determined this procedure, the CONMEBOL Disciplinary Commission may determine the total or partial closure of the stadium for the next home game.
3 °) ORDER CLUB ATLÉTICO BOCA JUNIORS to carry out the following activations in its next home match at CONMEBOL Libertadores 2022: a) DISPLAY a poster with the phrase ‘Enough with racism’ in the start-of-match protocol, at the time of the formation of the teams in front of the grandstand. The poster design and measurements will be informed by CONMEBOL’s commercial and marketing department.
b) EXPOSURE from the KO (kick-off, game start) until the end of the match, on the big screen of the Stadium, the phrase Enough with Racism, with the exception of the moments in which the sporting and commercial activations of the competition. The design of the image to be exhibited will be sent by the CONMEBOL Sales and Marketing Department.
4 °) NOTIFY the BOCA JUNIORS ATHLETIC CLUB.
An appeal may be lodged against this decision before the CONMEBOL Board of Appeal within a period of 7 (seven) calendar days from the day following the notification of the decision with motivation pursuant to Article 67.2 of the CONMEBOL Disciplinary Code.
Source: Clarin
