Racism in Spain : A country in denial

The above response to the grotesque racial abuse that Lewis Hamilton received in Barcelona , Spain on Sunday sadly reflects the views of too many people in Spain .

Even the Spanish Formula One officials, hell bent on maintaining the country’s F1 status seem unable and/or unwilling to see the incident further than a few ‘idiots’, who do ‘not represent the country’.

This was neither a few ‘idiots’, nor an insignificant number of racists. This was a large number of Spanaird’s hurling the most racist abuse, ‘negro de mierda’ –negro of s…- Puta de Miedra –son of s…-that should shame any modern country.

The level of abuse and the response from its officials is nothing new. After calling Thierry Henry a ‘negro de Mierda’, the Spanish national coach -Luis Arrogones- was initially fined a poultry £2000, by the Spanish football authorities, which he later overturned on appeal.

And in 2006 Real Zaragoza were fined a mere £450 in a match in which the Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o threatened to walk off because of the relentless racial abuse.

Every country has its problems with racism. It’s how they deal with it that moves a nation forward. The biggest obstacle for the Spanish authorities and its citizens is their inability to acknowledge it, much less deal with it.

Formula One racing is multi-billion dollar global sport in which, the Spanish hold dearly in no small part because of the success of Fernando Alonso.

Removing the FI status from Barcelona , albeit for one year, would force Spain to confront its unacceptable prejudices whilst restoring some credibility to an already tarnished sport.