Onyewu sues over alleged slur in Belgium
Filed under: Oguchi Onyewu, Racism
from sports illustrated:
Standard Liege’s U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu is suing an Anderlecht player over an alleged racial insult, hoping the case will serve to eradicate on-field racist abuse from European football.Onyewu, who is black, says Anderlecht’s Jelle Van Damme called him a “dirty monkey” during the Belgian league playoffs. Van Damme, who is white, has denied the allegations and said he is not a racist.
Onyewu’s lawyer, Jean-Louis Dupont, lodged a complaint with a Brussels court Tuesday.
`He was convinced it was his duty to lodge the complaint,” Dupont said. “It is not a question whether Van Damme is racist. The issue is that these slurs are still used on the pitch, and are being used because they know it hurts.”
Onyewu completed five days of training in Miami on Sunday with the U.S. soccer team. He is preparing for the June 14-28 Confederations Cup in South Africa and two World Cup qualifiers.
The incidents occurred during the opener of a two-game playoff series between Standard Liege and Anderlecht to decide the Belgian league on May 21.
In three separate incidents during the tense 1-1 draw, Onyewu claims Van Damme called him a “monkey.” Onyewu alerted the referee but the match was not interrupted. At one point, Onyewu threatened to leave the pitch but “the teammates convinced him to stay,” his court complaint said.
Standard Liege beat Anderlecht 1-0 in the return leg, giving the 27-year-old Onyewu his second league title in as many years.
Onyewu is one of the top defenders in the Belgian league and has made 40 international appearances for the U.S., starting in all three of the team’s World Cup games in 2006.
Beyond seeking personal reparation, Onyewu “wants to contribute to eradicate such behavior in football,” his court papers said.
“A great many lesser known African players don’t have the stature to publicly denounce the insult they suffer on the pitch,” Dupont said. “With Oguchi, it is different.”
Anderlecht said it had yet to be informed of the court case and did not react beyond saying Van Damme had told the referee at the playoff game he made no such comments.
Unlike the racist chants that cascade from the stands in some European nations, the racist taunts on the pitch are often whispered in a player’s ear when referees are out of earshot.
The most famous case of onfield taunting came at the 2006 World Cup final.
Even if the exchanges were not racist, Italian defender Marco Materazzi got under Zinedine Zidane’s skin and the Frenchman headbutted him. Zidane was sent off and Italy went on to win the cup.
Racism from the stands has been going for years, with fans making money chants and throwing bananas at black players. Football officials have long condemned it and fined clubs.
image via daylife
Van Damme is very lucky Gooch is settling this in court. It is to serve a point, and that point is that this racist crap must stop. I would like to have seen the look on Van Damme’s face if Gooch met up with him in the parking lot!
Beating Van Damme and Anderlecht in the final was sweet revenge! Good for Onyewu to take care of business on the pitch and make the racist pay in court. Onyewu’s an American hero in every way.
i’m glad Gooch is doing this. this S has to stop.
really glad you posted this too, dunny. i tweeted a link to it http://twitter.com/andrewkarl
Some Guy, Van Damme is about as big as Gooch, so they would have been able to charge for that, maybe put it on PPV.
Kudos, Gooch.
Whhaaa Mommy…
U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu needs to grow up, and realize suing an Anderlecht player over an alleged racial insult does not make him any better of a person calling the name, (whether it’s racial or not). Also, not taking it like a man makes the U.S. looks like we have wusses on the team instead of real men in sports. A normal adult, black, white or in between with any experience in life would just shug it off. So, Ogechi, stand up and be a man, instead of wus. It was not the first time you were called a name, and it certainly will not be the last.
It’s just an alleged insult! Onyewu is overreacting in the old american style! What’s next? A tv show and a book about what happened?
What if he would have said something about his mother! Would that be a “lighter” insult?