"Fighting it with all the strength we have" - La Liga India MD Jose Antonio Cachaza on racist chants against Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr
A symphony of ankle-breaking maneuvers, a truckload of attacking potency, some elite goal-mouth credence, and an enviable amount of razzle-dazzle has transformed Vinicius Jr. into a talisman at Real Madrid. Even at the tender age of 22, the Brazilian is arguably the hottest property in La Liga.
Yet, it's that bit of flamboyance that garners all the flak from opposition fans. The hostility has transcended into racist chants and discriminatory abuse, dehumanizing a 22-year-old for just being his unfeigned self.
Effigy hangings, monkey chants, and so much more have been directed at the youngster in a matter of a few months and yet everything has been vindicated in the name of sporting rivalry.
Os racistas seguem indo aos estádios e assistindo ao maior clube do mundo de perto e a @LaLiga segue sem fazer nada…
Seguirei de cabeça erguida e comemorando as minhas vitórias e do Madrid.
No final a culpa é MINHA. 🤙🏿 https://t.co/5ztuTjP4s6
The Real Madrid winger, in a tweet last December, called out La Liga for doing "nothing" to stop these acts of discrimination in their own stadiums. Tragically, the situation hasn't bettered since then. However, in an exclusive interaction with Sportskeeda, La Liga India managing director Jose Antonio Cachaza discussed these instances and how the league is fighting against such occurrences.
"It's a serious issue. Maybe it’s more noticeable in the case of Vinicius Jr. because he’s a Real Madrid star but it’s happening in other stadiums too. We’re aware of this and we deeply believe that racism nor any other kind of discrimination has any place in football," the head of operations of the league's Indian body stated.
"Football has to be a place to bring people together, not of hatred or dividing people. So we’re doing what we can do. Basically, we have inspectors at every stadium and we’re reporting to the authorities and to the Spanish court every single racist or discriminatory attitude that we register from anyone. We can’t do more because you are getting into a legal situation. But we are fighting it with all the strength we have," Jose Antonio Cachaza added.
However, the question of bringing these inhumane abuses to an end still haunts La Liga. While the Spanish league and its stakeholders are venturing on a journey to find their footing in their varied international markets, impregnated by people of different races and creeds, the inability to protect even their most marketable star could blemish their efforts.
Furthermore, during the conversation with Sportskeeda, Cachaza also opened up about multiple other issues plaguing the top-tier Spanish league and their plans to emerge victorious at the end of the tunnel.
Here are excerpts from the conversation with La Liga India managing director Jose Antonio Cachaza discussing the Negreira case, the perils of state-owned clubs, and more:
Question: Firstly, Jose, there have been some headline-grabbing developments relating to La Liga in the past couple of months. The Negriara case involving Barcelona has brought to light some serious allegations. Would you be able to share your views and opinions and La Liga’s stand on the same?
Jose Antonio Cachaza: This is quite a serious matter that has not been fully clarified and is under court review and our position is that it needs to be fully clarified because the way it looks is no good. I can’t go beyond that!
Q: Not getting into the specifics of the case, but it has led to continuous altercations between Barcelona president Joan Laporta and La Liga president Javier Tebas. Now to have a war-of-words play out like this in front of the whole world, is it damaging to the image and the position of the league?
Jose: Not really. They are defending different positions and La Liga is trying to apply the rules that will apply to everyone else. But I can tell you that from the operative side, we are working in the same way with the Barca management team as we did previously.
From my point of view, which is the international area of La Liga, when we have things that we can involve them in, we still do the same. Our relationship with the Barca professional team is as smooth as it has always been.
Of course, there are serious disagreements between Tebas and Laporta, but it doesn’t mean we don’t keep working with them at the operative level.
Q: Another problem that has been haunting La Liga recently is the massive cash influx in Premier League clubs and state-owned clubs. With their massive purses, these clubs have been able to attract the biggest names. How do you then sustain a league against such cash-rich clubs?
Jose: This is one of the biggest problems or challenges that European football is facing right now. State-owned clubs are basically financially doped and for them, expenses are not a problem.
It’s not just that Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, and now Newcastle United have a never-ending purse of funding coming from oil or natural but we’ve also proved recently with figures that the English Premier League is allowing its clubs to get into deep debt.
Basically, we have proved that in the last few years, English clubs have piled up deficits of three billion euros in total. The league simply allowed the owners to pump money into the clubs. If you go to Spain and Germany, our accounts are quite balanced.
This creates tension too because it leads to one of the biggest disagreements Barcelona have with La Liga. Now economically they’re in dire straits and they realize they are not allowed to go into debt but the English clubs are. But the league cannot change the rules.
The problem is not FC Barcelona, that will be solved. The main problem that you face and is affecting the market is clubs having hundreds of millions of shortcomings and the owners come and pump in money. In Germany and Spain, you cannot because of economic fair play.
It’s a big problem and we’re vocal against it, but our clubs with less money are still competing against them. You take Aston Villa, they are not competing with the big clubs. But that can change if this continues because if clubs continue to pump in money and play under different economic fair play rules, it can create imbalances that are totally unjustifiable.
Also Read: La Liga India MD Jose Antonio Cachaza says 2 Spanish clubs "seriously considering" buying an ISL franchise