The Association of Soccer players of Uruguay (AFU) issued a statement on Monday in which they expressed their rejection of the sanction imposed by the English Football Association on Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani for using the phrase “thank you, bold” towards a friend on his Instagram account.
The text of the AFU states that the measure is arbitrary and “a discriminatory act against the culture and way of life of Uruguayans”. “The sanction reveals a biased, dogmatic and ethnocentric view that admits nothing more than the reading that is intended to be imposed from its particular and excluding subjective interpretation, however wrong it may be,” the text adds.
They also point out that Cavani did not commit any act that could be interpreted as racist and that he only used a common expression in the Uruguayan lexicon to refer affectionately to a loved one. “Pretending that the only valid form of interpretation in life is the one in the head of the leaders of the English Football Federation is in itself a real discriminatory act, totally reprehensible, against Uruguayan culture,” they said. .
The AFU indicated that it seeks to “publicly defend the impeccable figure of Edinson Cavani and, of course, the culture of our country.” According to the footballers, the FA expresses through its sanction “a total ignorance and contempt for a multicultural view of the world, respectful of plurality, wrong from the unilateral and rigid application of its anti-racist rules , the basis we support, but which are certainly not rationally applicable to the case under consideration. “
The text ends by asking the FA to review its decision-making processes on these issues and to lift the sanction imposed on Edinson Cavani “and restore to the world his good name and honor, unjustly tainted by this reprehensible decision. “.
The statement was shared on social media by the players who make up the Uruguayan team, and some former players of the Celeste.