Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis slammed the rejection of Kalidou Koulibaly’s appeal, but won’t ask the team to leave the field in the presence of racist abuse.
The Senegal international was sent off for sarcastically applauding the referee during a defeat to Inter and testified in front of the appeals court that he was affected by the constant racist abuse aimed at him throughout the match.
However, the appeal against a two-match ban was rejected, because the judges ruled otherwise racist abuse could be used as “justification for even violent” reactions on the pitch, setting a dangerous precedent.
“Once again, the system proved it doesn’t know how to change and preferred to punish the victim,” De Laurentiis told Il Mattino newspaper.
“If we carry on like this, football runs the serious risk of imploding, as it is self-destructive. I am ashamed to be part of this system and I will leave it very soon if the FIGC does not adopt drastic measures to clamp down on racism.
“Koulibaly is left even more humiliated by the whole affair. I am offended on his behalf. The appeals court preferred to apply the law to the letter when it should’ve interpreted it. This is a decision that again shows they are blind to the problem and too immature to deal with it.”
By all accounts, Koulibaly’s personal testimony moved the judges, and their verdict was a split decision.
“Kalidou was moved and explained with great sensitivity how this had affected him and his family. It’s so disappointing he was unable to receive justice.”
Carlo Ancelotti said Napoli will walk off the field next time there is reiterated racist abuse, but De Laurentiis has other ideas.
“I would not have taken the team off, because I know the weakness of our football and accepted to play within these rules, even if the rules are wrong. So I will battle to change and modernise the rules, which basically haven’t been modified since 1981.
“It’s also true that we told (referee Paolo Silvio) Mazzoleni at half-time that the team was prepared to walk away if the abuse continued. However, I was the first to say we shouldn’t do that, because I didn’t want to give the team any alibis. We had to win that game anyway and didn’t manage it.”