17 Dec 2019 19:28:29
Some things are so mind numbingly stupid you think they must be a joke, or a mistake, but the Serie A approach to dealing with racism stops to a new low. They’ve decided to use images of apes, that’s right, apes. I think this shows us just how deep rooted the issue is in Italy, there seems to be a complete lack of understanding of the issue. Unbelievable.

1.) 17 Dec 2019
17 Dec 2019 20:02:56
Its quite sad hat these kind of things still exist.

2.) 17 Dec 2019
17 Dec 2019 20:04:26
Id say even shappy couldn't find enough words to condemn this enough. 😂😂
Absolutely brain dead.

3.) 17 Dec 2019
17 Dec 2019 20:34:05
Ken, I spent some time trying to work out how they thought this was a sensible idea and I got nowhere. Sadly it led me to the conclusion that this is embedded in Italian culture; they simply don’t get it.

Football is an island of intolerance but let’s not kid ourselves that the UK is a shining light. Imagine if a top footballer came out as gay? In cricket, rugby, athletics, hell most sports, it hardly gets a mention but in football, can you even start to imagine the abuse?

There is something Neanderthal about football, don’t know how we fix it but we need to.

4.) 17 Dec 2019
17 Dec 2019 21:24:34
I'm at a loss to come up with some form of logic where they thought this was acceptable.

In the end the only thing I came up with is they knew it wasn't but didn't care.

It's like a sick joke, but they don't realise no one finds it funny.

Unfortunately football has a tribal nature to it, that almost encourages the singling out players, managers or fans. Which means anyone who comes from a minority, be that because of race, religion or sexuality will be targeted.

Until we as a society decided to put aside that tribalism then racism and homophobia will always have the environment to take hold.

{Ed033's Note - Make of it what you will, but apparently, the artist, Simone Fugazzotto said, "I only paint monkeys as a metaphor for human beings. We turn the concept back on the racists, as we are all monkeys originally. So I painted a Western monkey, an Asian monkey and a black monkey."

Quote from the Independent

5.) 17 Dec 2019
17 Dec 2019 21:42:58
I kinda see what he trying to say, it's back at the racists that we all evolved from monkeys, be you white, black, asian or mixed of every ethnicity. Just don't think he got the bit where black players are been abused with monkey chants.

6.) 17 Dec 2019
17 Dec 2019 22:15:57
Nobody evolved from a monkey. Period.

7.) 17 Dec 2019
17 Dec 2019 22:17:01
Firstly, the guy clearly isn't a zoologist as they are clearly chimpanzees which are a one of the great apes and not monkeys.

However, I could understand an individual artist being naive or unaware of the connotations of using the images of monkeys/ apes in a anti-racism campaign for football if they weren't involved or interested in football.

But anyone who has been at a football ground where players have been abused with monkey chants would understand that putting pictures of monkeys on posters isn't going to remove that association but drive it and make it more prevalent.

However, this campaign must have passed through several people. Many people high up within the Italian FA must have seen this poster, approved this poster, sanctioned it and distributed it.

And not one of them at any point said "Hold up, do you think this could be taken the wrong way, or might be ill-advised".

8.) 17 Dec 2019
17 Dec 2019 22:39:19
This is how certain "artists" give art a bad name. There needs to basic respect and sensitivity about this issue. Art does not have free reign to ignore the sensitivities of people who are being abused. If I was one of those players who had suffered racism I would be outraged by this so called piece of art. Why on earth did the authorities who commissioned this not ask the players themselves what they thought of the artist's concept. Then all this fuss would have been avoided.

9.) 18 Dec 2019
18 Dec 2019 08:59:16
AJH, let's not start knocking the Neanderthals.

10.) 18 Dec 2019
18 Dec 2019 10:30:15
I read about this yesterday- the artist is bang on - we are evolved from apes and essentially the same.

Shame society isn’t evolved enough for this to be an issue but it is and strikes me it was a deliberate choice to provoke a reaction like a petulant child that is Italian FA.

11.) 18 Dec 2019
18 Dec 2019 14:33:34
salford don't think the artist is in the wrong here, checking his website and insta account, he seems to draw only monkeys. The geniuses at italian fa should on the other hand have literal feces thrown on them, that should teach them a lesson or two.