Argentina rugby suspends captain

[stemoc]

The Argentine Rugby Union strongly repudiates the discriminatory and xenophobic comments published by members of the Los Pumas squad on social networks and meeting urgently, the Board of Directors resolves:

In the first place, revoke the captaincy of Pablo Matera and request the staff to propose a new captain to the Board of Directors.

Second, suspend Pablo Matera, Guido Petti and Santiago Socino from the national team until their disciplinary situation is defined.

Third, initiate a disciplinary process for the three mentioned players, in charge of the Disciplinary Commission of the Argentine Rugby Union.

Although the messages were expressed between 2011 and 2013 and do not represent the integrity as people that the three showed during this time in Los Pumas, from the Argentine Rugby Union we condemn any expression of hatred and we consider it unacceptable that those who express them represent our country.

Now its easy for Australia to win the Tri-nations, they just need to score 101 points

[Caley_Red]

What did they actually say and why is it suddenly an issue now given it's been in the public domain for so long?

[stemoc]

What did they actually say and why is it suddenly an issue now given it's been in the public domain for so long?

after NZ's signed All Black jersey and haka gesture for Maradona, fans in Argentina were pissed by Argentina didn't do anything since Maradona himself was a pumas' fan so angry fans went thru their twitter feeds and found thins which showed something which ppl in Argentina believe rugby is there, an "elitist" club..adn reading some of their translated comments it shows..
one of pablos comments back in 2012 after Argentina played their last game there

SOUTHAFRICA BABY! Finally leaving this country full of negros.. OUCH!!

one by socino in 2011

I don't support apartheid, but we should start differentiating common buses from those that have negros playing loud "cumbia".

[mrbrownstone]

Reckon this one speaks for itself.

[mrbrownstone]

Reckon this one speaks for itself.

Translation taken from Reddit so take with a grain of salt, but another one from Socino allegedly:

"Plaza Oeste is full of shitty n-words. Why don't we play loud Cumbia and drop a bomb there? We'd solve a few problems. #nazi"

The #nazi doesn't take much translating at least. Abhorrent stuff if true.

[Auckman]

80-0 to Wallabies

[mrbrownstone]

Again taken from Reddit, so a grain of salt for the exact translation, but some of Matera's alleged comments:

"I'll translate some:

"The hate for paraguayans, Bolivians, etc. is born from that housemaid that drops a hair in your food."

"Beautiful morning to go out with the car and run over blacks"

"South Africa baby! At last I'm leaving this country full of blacks... ouch"

Way to squander any goodwill after the AB win.

[Auckman]

Those Maradona fans don't muck around. I thought Matera was half native indian or something? I guess not. Quite racist comments and brings dishonour to his team and the sport of rugby in Argentina.

[stemoc]

tbf to matera, a lot of nazis did escape to Argentina after WW2 i won't be surprised if his gramps was one and taught him all that hatred, same for socino

[Guy Smiley]

It’s all about RESPECT ref.

[stemoc]

so beating the team called the All Blacks had even more meaning for him?

[Jimmy Smallsteps]

Oh dear. I don't generally support current day punishments for things players said when they were much younger but those comments are abhorrent.

The Argentina Rugby Union can't do nothing. Ban them for this game and then draw a line under it.

[stemoc]

expecting all 3 to leave jaguares/Argentina rugby and sign contracts in france soon..

[Ymx]

Christ those are some horrible comments.

Probably indicative of a wider issue in society there.

[assfly]

Bloody hell, what a shame.

Another reason to stay the hell off social media.

[Yeeb]

How old was he when he made those comments ? 18?
It’s a bit of a non news event, plenty of people have that sort of view when they first visit South Africa and see a whole new level of type of black person. He should get a small ban and fine, and then just move along once he’s made the appropriate apologies and ‘yeah I was young and stupid and I regret it’ type press conferences.

Probably for the best though that I’m not a famous sportsman or politician !

[tc27]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/55141798

Pablo Matera has been stripped of the Argentina captaincy and suspended along with two team-mates for "discriminatory and xenophobic" comments in historical social media posts.

The Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) says it "strongly repudiates" comments made by Matera as well as Guido Petti and Santiago Socino between 2011 and 2013.

The UAR said it met "urgently" after the posts resurfaced.

The trio were due to play Australia in the final Tri-Nations game on Saturday.

Matera, 27, who plays his club rugby for Stade Francais, has apologised and said he is "ashamed".

The UAR said "although the messages were expressed between 2011 and 2013" and did not represent the views shown by the trio during their time with the team, "it condemns any expression of hatred and we consider it unacceptable that those who express them represent our country".

The players' social media accounts were closed on Tuesday but screenshots of historical posts which disparaged black people and people from other South American nations circulated widely.

Flanker Matera has won 69 caps and led the Pumas to a famous victory over New Zealand on 14 November.

"I am very ashamed," he said.

"Sorry to all those who were offended by the barbarities that I wrote. At that time I never imagined who I was going to become. Today I have to own what I said nine years ago.

"I apologise also to my family and my team for what they are going through because of my actions and thanks to the people who love me for their support."

The UAR said it had requested that staff propose a new captain to the board of directors, while the players are suspended pending a "disciplinary process".

[sockwithaticket]

"Sorry to all those who were offended by the barbarities that I wrote. At that time I never imagined who I was going to become. Today I have to own what I said nine years ago.

"I apologise also to my family and my team for what they are going through because of my actions and thanks to the people who love me for their support."

Very good response from him.

It leaves a bad taste to be looking to punish him for things said so far in the past as a teenager; obviously they were never good things to post, but it's not like they're even within the last 5 years. There seems to be very little room to accept that people have grown and changed and a desire for retrospective punishment that serves no real purpose except to tell those who do overcome narrow-mindedness and bigotry that it doesn't matter, they will forever be branded by it.

[Torquemada 1420]

I assume the Italians will be suspending Luca Bigi next for the crimes of his Roman ancestors against Christians?

Ridiculous. If the guy has said "Yeah. I said that and stand by it" fine, suspend him.

And no, I don't know how long ago is too long but pretty comfortable that
- 9 years ago
- and the context of him being a teenager (i.e. knowing jack sh*t)
is more than.

[Torquemada 1420]

Oh. And the tweets were bad. Baaaaaaaaaaaaad.

1) Good morning to go for a drive and crush blacks.
2) South Africa! Jeez! Finally I get out of this country of blacks".

or thereabouts.

[Slick]

When I started reading the report this morning but first reaction was that this was 9 years ago FFS.

But they are pretty awful comments that can't just be swept under the carpet. I think UAR have done the right thing but I'd also like to think there is a way for him to work his way back to the captaincy.

[Yeeb]

Oh. And the tweets were bad. Baaaaaaaaaaaaad.

1) Good morning to go for a drive and crush blacks.
2) South Africa! Jeez! Finally I get out of this country of blacks".

or thereabouts.

Do you suspect it will be some Honkies who will be most upset by the past actions of the Dopey Diego?

[clydecloggie]

Blessed are we who did our growing up in private.

But those tweets are on a different level to all the edgy stuff I said for a laugh while full of sweet drink in my teens, I must admit.

[Sandstorm]

Blessed are we who did our growing up in private.

+ 1 000 000

[Blake]

Well that's a pity.

Stay off of social media kids. Unless every post is wholesome and specially crafted to promote the brand you want to project to the world...stay off!

[sockwithaticket]

Blessed are we who did our growing up in private.

But those tweets are on a different level to all the edgy stuff I said for a laugh while full of sweet drink in my teens, I must admit.

I heard similar or worse (rape, pedo stuff) from people delighting in being edgelords while I was at college. Gee each other up in a group or performatively for their mates online, but wouldn't say anything like it 1 on 1. Not really in touch with any of those people any more, but I still knew a few in my early 20s and they'd started growing out of it at that point This was about a decade ago, so not far off the timeline of Matera et al's comments.

There has been something circulating about the word being translated as negro also translating as poor and that Argentinian rugby has a class bias. Through this prism I could certainly see these comments coming from a place of assumed superiority over the poor and then, having gone out into the world and experienced life a bit more, realising that's a load of bollocks and no longer posting such drivel. I remember people from uni who arrived as awful Tory caricatures having directly taken their views from their parents or other relatives and gradually shifting the longer they were there and exposed to people not like them.

[Torquemada 1420]

I heard similar or worse (rape, pedo stuff) from people delighting in being edgelords while I was at college. Gee each other up in a group or performatively for their mates online, but wouldn't say anything like it 1 on 1. Not really in touch with any of those people any more, but I still knew a few in my early 20s and they'd started growing out of it at that point This was about a decade ago, so not far off the timeline of Matera et al's comments.

There has been something circulating about the word being translated as negro also translating as poor and that Argentinian rugby has a class bias. Through this prism I could certainly see these comments coming from a place of assumed superiority over the poor and then, having gone out into the world and experienced life a bit more, realising that's a load of bollocks and no longer posting such drivel. I remember people from uni who arrived as awful Tory caricatures having directly taken their views from their parents or other relatives and gradually shifting the longer they were there and exposed to people not like them.

All of the above bar the bit in red which is clearly a fabrication.

[Torquemada 1420]

Oh. And the tweets were bad. Baaaaaaaaaaaaad.

1) Good morning to go for a drive and crush blacks.
2) South Africa! Jeez! Finally I get out of this country of blacks".

or thereabouts.

Do you suspect it will be some Honkies who will be most upset by the past actions of the Dopey Diego?

Maybe. Or more likely some privileged Argies afraid of not getting their free prawn sandwiches courtesy of the Honkeys who run WR/IRB.

If the comments were recent (or he was demonstrably still a racist), then sure: hang, draw and quarter. For the idiocy of publicly expressing such comments alone. Pretty sure there is a concept in law of time barring and most applied parameters there would have been exceeded in this instance.

[sockwithaticket]

I heard similar or worse (rape, pedo stuff) from people delighting in being edgelords while I was at college. Gee each other up in a group or performatively for their mates online, but wouldn't say anything like it 1 on 1. Not really in touch with any of those people any more, but I still knew a few in my early 20s and they'd started growing out of it at that point This was about a decade ago, so not far off the timeline of Matera et al's comments.

There has been something circulating about the word being translated as negro also translating as poor and that Argentinian rugby has a class bias. Through this prism I could certainly see these comments coming from a place of assumed superiority over the poor and then, having gone out into the world and experienced life a bit more, realising that's a load of bollocks and no longer posting such drivel. I remember people from uni who arrived as awful Tory caricatures having directly taken their views from their parents or other relatives and gradually shifting the longer they were there and exposed to people not like them.

All of the above bar the bit in red which is clearly a fabrication.

One of the friends I made there literally proclaimed himself a Tory during a class and really did voice some weird, occasionally objectionable takes on 'the poor'. He's now a safely de-closested gay Labour voter. I'm pretty sure he doesn't consider himself a fabrication.

[handyman]

He is going to kak when he plays the Springboks again.

[Not_Couch]

I can't believe the All Blacks lost to a team full of raci..

No wait we have lost to racists. England, Australia South Africa, ah fuck it, time to make a racist 1st XV thread

[Yeeb]

I can't believe the All Blacks lost to a team full of raci..

No wait we have lost to racists. England, Australia South Africa, ah fuck it, time to make a racist 1st XV thread

Those countries picked the ‘have racist views’ team modifier, you lot got the ‘domestic abusers’ card

[Yeeb]

I heard similar or worse (rape, pedo stuff) from people delighting in being edgelords while I was at college. Gee each other up in a group or performatively for their mates online, but wouldn't say anything like it 1 on 1. Not really in touch with any of those people any more, but I still knew a few in my early 20s and they'd started growing out of it at that point This was about a decade ago, so not far off the timeline of Matera et al's comments.

There has been something circulating about the word being translated as negro also translating as poor and that Argentinian rugby has a class bias. Through this prism I could certainly see these comments coming from a place of assumed superiority over the poor and then, having gone out into the world and experienced life a bit more, realising that's a load of bollocks and no longer posting such drivel. I remember people from uni who arrived as awful Tory caricatures having directly taken their views from their parents or other relatives and gradually shifting the longer they were there and exposed to people not like them.

All of the above bar the bit in red which is clearly a fabrication.

One of the friends I made there literally proclaimed himself a Tory during a class and really did voice some weird, occasionally objectionable takes on 'the poor'. He's now a safely de-closested gay Labour voter. I'm pretty sure he doesn't consider himself a fabrication.

He had the Tory bummed right out of him then.

Surely in the age of the internet, the ‘my political views are my fathers’ thing isn’t as prevalent any more ?

[sockwithaticket]

All of the above bar the bit in red which is clearly a fabrication.

One of the friends I made there literally proclaimed himself a Tory during a class and really did voice some weird, occasionally objectionable takes on 'the poor'. He's now a safely de-closested gay Labour voter. I'm pretty sure he doesn't consider himself a fabrication.

He had the Tory bummed right out of him then.

Surely in the age of the internet, the ‘my political views are my fathers’ thing isn’t as prevalent any more ?

Depends. Having taught secondary in a weirdly mixed catchment (some upper-middle class kids, some army barracks kids and settled travellers) you'd overhear or have directly said to you things they can only get from their parents.

Also, while people have the internet available to them, a lot use it for very specific and limited purposes even into adulthood. Not every 16 - 20 year old is perusing the internet with a view to expanding their horizons.

[Torquemada 1420]

He is going to kak when he plays the Springboks again.

Wouldn't his (former) views be welcomed in the Boks?

[/James Small]

[Torquemada 1420]

Also, while people have the internet available to them, a lot use it for very specific and limited purposes even into adulthood. Not every 16 - 20 year old is perusing the internet with a view to expanding their horizons.

The reverse I would suggest. The internot facilitates the immediate access to mass affirmation bias. Of course, this is nothing new i.e. when I was a kid delivering papers, you knew what views each household would hold.
The web does it on steroids. Horse to water and all that.

[handyman]

He is going to kak when he plays the Springboks again.

Wouldn't his (former) views be welcomed in the Boks?

[/James Small]

No. No, it would not.

[Torquemada 1420]

He is going to kak when he plays the Springboks again.

Wouldn't his (former) views be welcomed in the Boks?

[/James Small]

No. No, it would not.

[/Geo Cronje]

[handyman]

Wouldn't his (former) views be welcomed in the Boks?

[/James Small]

No. No, it would not.

[/Geo Cronje]

Geo Cronje is currently playing for SA?

[FalseBayFC]

Wouldn't his (former) views be welcomed in the Boks?

[/James Small]

No. No, it would not.

[/Geo Cronje]

Given the scale of support for the National Front in France, I would say that France has a far greater number of white racists than South Africa does.