Daniel Alves deals, confronts racism with style

When a racist fan threw a banana at the mixed heritage Barcelona and Brazilian football player Daniel Alves, unlike the Sky commentary team, Alves did not ignore it -the banana- or the issue. Instead he chose to show utter contempt for the abuser, whilst telling the world that racism is unacceptable:

He picked the banana up, peeled it and ate it.

To add further insult to the bigoted fan, he went on to inspire his team to a thrilling victory, having come from a two goal deficit. Priceless.

So poetic were his actions, that what he did has gone viral on social media, with players  and fans around the world supporting him. Even shamed but now rehabilitated Luis Suárez of Liverpool has come out showing support for Alves stating there is no place for racism and that ‘we are all monkeys’.

He and other players including Neymar, Hulk, Mario Balotelli and Sergio Agüero have all gone on Instagram with pictures of themselves taking a bite out of bananas.

Over the years Spain has had difficulties even acknowledging racism much less effectively dealing with it. But the world-wide media storm this has brought, the offending club Villarreal quickly sought out  the guilty individual and imposed a lifetime for his actions.

In one moment of magic, Daniel Alves dealt with the fan, forced a nation to confront its racist demons, and showed that Black people will not be crushed by the bigotry of individuals, fans or  anyone else.

Simon Woolley