LaLiga requests powers to be able to sanction cases of racism

LaLiga have issued an official statement in which, in relation to the latest episode of racism that took place last Sunday at Mestalla against Real Madrid player Vinicius, it intends to have more tools at its disposal to be able to sanction inappropriate behaviour.

The Spanish league will request more sanctioning powers in order to be more agile and effective in the fight against violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport; where LaLiga has been leading the detection and denunciation for years. According to Spanish law, LaLiga can only detect and denounce facts that are susceptible to racism, but does not have the power to sanction.

Full LaLiga statement:

LaLiga will request more sanctioning powers, with the aim of being more agile and effective in the fight against violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport, where LaLiga has been leading the identification and reporting of such behaviour in football stadiums for years, but feels powerless when observing how its reporting ends.

Despite its intense and continuous fight against violence and racism to the full extent of its powers (currently, according to Spanish legislation, limited to identifying and reporting the facts that occur), LaLiga feels tremendous frustration at the lack of sanctions and convictions by the sports disciplinary bodies, public administrations and jurisdictional bodies to which it reports.

Faced with this serious situation, in the coming days LaLiga will formally request the amendment of Law 19/2007 of July 11, against violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sport and Law 39/2022 of December 30, on sport.

The purpose of the proposal is to request that LaLiga may exercise disciplinary authority over incidents of this type which occur in matches of the professional competition, so that the disciplinary bodies of LaLiga may proceed to sanction them, among otherthings, with the total or partial closure ofthe sports venue, the prohibition of access to it in the case of members/fans and the imposition of financial penalties, without prejudice to the adoption of provisional or precautionary measures that may be appropriate, depending on the nature and seriousness of the incidents.

As we have been repeating in recent days, LaLiga has been leading the fight against violence, racism and intolerance on football pitches, both inside and outside the stadium, identifying such behaviour through its Match Directors, security officers and television cameras, and subsequently reporting it to the relevant bodies.

LaLiga's legal action

Every week, LaLiga submits a letter to the RFEF's Competition Committee, and the State Commission against Violence, Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Sport with any chants that occur at football matches that incite violence or contain insulting or intolerant content.

In addition, when insults are identified that could be classified as a hate crime, LaLiga also reports them to the Hate Prosecutor's Office. However, LaLiga has long observed with impotence the way in which these reports are dismissed without even reaching the courts, or how the hate prosecutors of each region do not have a uniform criterion when it comes to classifying these acts.