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It was February 2006 and the stage was set. Estadio de la Romareda, Zaragoza, Spain was the place, and there promised to be a very interesting football match in a clash between Barcelona FC and Real Zaragoza. What began as a typical football match took a grim turn when the crowd greeted one of the most decorated black players, Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o, with ape-like sounds. They overlooked all his worth, chanted ‘monkey’, and tossed banana peels. In response, Eto’o began the first open protest against racism, when he attempted to leave the pitch. Although he was restrained by his teammates, I asked myself, who in their right mind would sensibly discriminate between Eto’o and Beckham, Ronaldo, Shevchenko, Rooney and Drogba, Figo and Henry, Radebe and Maradona, Beckenbauer and Pele?

In an interview with CNN, Eto’o said “I was leaving the field and if it wasn’t for Rijkard, my teammates and the referee, I would have done it. In that moment, you start to think whether there is something wrong with being black, you know?”

Tags: Africa, Africans, Discrimination, Emmanuel Ohiri, Eto'o, Ferdinand, FIFA, Football, football stadia, Negro, olympic gold medallist, Olympics, patrice evra, Players, Racism, racism in football, REspect, samuel eto o, Sepp Blatter, Soccer, sports, Terry#, UEFA