Italy prop Cherif Traore has revealed that he received a ‘rotten banana’ from one of his Benetton teammates as part of their Secret Santa.
The 28-year-old, who was born in Guinea and moved to Italy at the age of seven, also claimed ‘most’ of his Benetton teammates who were present ‘laughed’ at the incident.
Revealing the details of the story on Instagram, Traore wrote: ‘Christmas is coming and as is traditional in a team, it’s Secret Santa time. A friendly and playful moment. A moment where you can give anonymous gifts to your mates, even ironic ones.
‘Yesterday, when it was my turn, I found a banana inside my present. A rotten banana, inside a wet bag. Apart from calling the gesture offensive, what hurt me most and seeing most of my mates present laughing. As if everything is normal.
‘I’m used to it, or I’ve had to get used to it, having to put a brave face on whenever I hear racist jokes in order to try not to hate the people close to me. Yesterday was different though.
‘Thankfully, some friends, especially foreigners, tried to support me. Outside Italy a gesture like this is severely condemned.
‘I’ve been up all night. Young guys from different backgrounds attended this Secret Santa.
‘I have decided not to remain silent this time to ensure that episodes like this don’t happen again to prevent other people finding themselves in my current situation in the future. And hoping the sender will learn a lesson….’
In their response, Benetton, who are based in the northern Italian city of Treviso, said: ‘With reference to the post that appeared this morning on the social profiles of Cherif Traore, Benetton would like to reiterate that it has always condemned with the utmost firmness any expression of racism and/or form of discrimination.
‘That is not part of our culture and does not represent our identity and our values.
‘We have always proved it with deeds, not just with words. Similar behaviours have nothing to do with sport and in the face of episodes like this Benetton will always be on the side of respecting people, their culture, their ethnicity, their faith and their dignity.’
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