Eto’o: « This is a problem we all have to face up to »

Samuel Eto’o spoke out today (wednesday) for the first time following the racist chanting during the Zaragoza game and made it clear that racism is a problem the whole of Spanish society needs to address.

Eto’s reaction to the racial abuse he received last Saturday at La Romareda was the clearest sign yet from a player in the Spanish League that they will not tolerate racism in the game. Eto’o insisted that the abuse wasn’t just an isolated incident: « this is a problem that we all have to face up to. This kind of discrimination exists not just on the football pitch, but in many other areas of life ».

Eto also declared : « I don’t know how I’ll react the next time it happens, but I’m just a footballer and I think that there are other people who should deal with the problem. I simply want to play I made my position clear on Saturday and I hope that the situation is dealt with and resolved to stop this kind of thing happening again ».

Rijkaard’s words of wisdom

Finally, Eto’o was persuaded to stay on the pitch by his team mates and the coaching staff and he explained: « I don’t regret not walking off in the end, but what made me stay on was when Frank Rijkaard came on and told me the only way to answer those people was to get back on and win the game, so I just turned back and played as well as I could. Id also like to thank the ref for the way he behaved -I take my hat off to him ».

No sense to insults

The Cameroon striker made it clear that: « I get a lot of stick in plenty of grounds, I can understand that fans want to cheer their team on but I can’t understand why anybody would want to get at me just because I’m black. In seven years in La Liga there’s only really been two really disagreeable places at Zaragoza twice and at Getafe ».

Sanctions

Zaragoza have been fined just 9,000 Euros, but Eto’o insisted: « look I’m not president of anything – the people in charge know what the sanction has to be there are people who play and others who make the rules. Even so there are many people who think that the sanction is too light – I know a club can’t be held responsible for all the fans in a stadium, but we have to come down hard on these people, not just with fines, but with other punishments. We have to look to ways in which the judicial system can act in this too ».

Nou Camp

Samuel Eto’o also admitted that there had been racist abuse at the Nou Camp: « when we played Osasuna, thee was a small group who were insulting Webo and I turned round and let them know that I’m black too and their insults were hurting me too ».

ER