KCan the national committee of a democratically constituted state leave gestures of global importance to private preferences and preferences? This is what is currently being discussed in Italy, as the ecstasy of Assyrian 1-0 victory over Wales lasted a long time, keeping the Italian people in suspense before a controversy erupted. Shortly before the start of last Saturday’s game, the Welsh national team knelt for a moment. The gesture paid homage to the Black Live Matters movement and has continued since he was assassinated George Floyd Copied millions of times around the world in Minneapolis in May 2020: baseball fields, basketball and soccer fields. However, they have never been seen at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, never seen before by an Italian athlete. This time, however, five Italians followed the Welsh example. The other six didn’t – and the sky fell on the crew.
Social media, newspapers and television programs are chewing on the names of players who have done one thing or the other; They are celebrated as heroes or branded as failures and their biographies are tested for racist or anti-racist incidents. There are those who are enthusiastic about united and happy Italy in the locker room, which is free to decide whether to support or ignore the global anti-racist movement. Others see the scene as a slanderous source of hidden racism in Italian football, including across the country. However, in reality, the scene revealed neither approval nor denial. On the contrary, what you saw in the Roman meadow was the result of great innocence, ignorance and disorder.
Some kneel, others stand up
If you have watched this moment carefully, you have noticed it: none of the Italian players has ever thought about a knee fall before. After the Valais gesture they looked surprised and stumbled – just like you were playing football on a soccer field when friends from the other team suddenly did something unexpected and surprised you: Should I join now? Some took part, others allowed it – certainly without consciously thinking whether George Floyd was killed or whether they were being watched, determined and interpreted by millions of people at the time.
But EM Pitch is not a football pitch. The Italian national team gave a moment that could be an important commitment for the anti-racist movement and strengthened Assouri’s image in the world. Because international competitions are never about goals. It’s about how a country presents itself through its national team – where not only athletic performance but also their understanding of honesty and identity gestures are shown on the sidelines or on the pitch. In this 2021 contest, the most important is the symbol that pays homage to the anti-racist movement.
This is a national or political issue that does not promise: the Belgian team bent the knee together and faced a Russian team, for example. The French did not initially kneel, but are said to have changed their minds after the racist struggles provoked by the far right. The Welsh had to kneel. Like their British and Scottish counterparts, they had already done so in previous games. Paradoxically, the Italian team doesn’t seem to predict the moves of others in this tournament like anyone else and making a name for themselves through their friendliness, code gestures have failed in the game.
You can’t blame the players for this. It would be up to the activists to inform them. A quick vote in the locker room would have been enough. Why? Versus? If it had been clear what the majority wanted, it could have appeared one by one: the individual player should not kneel, but the national team. Half on my knees and half on my feet, it felt wrong. There are no public criminal courts against soldiers. Correct and important gestures only lose their meaning.
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