By Sports Reporter
FORMER Warriors defender Costa Nhamoinesu has blasted racist behaviour by his club Sparta Prague’s fans after they racially abused Viktoria Plzeň players, Congolese Joel Ngandu Kayamba and Frenchman Jean-David Beauguel during a Czech Cup semi-final encounter last Wednesday night.
Sparta Prague progressed to the final courtesy of a 2-1 home victory, marred by the racist monkey chants targeted at the opposing team’s black players.
Nhamoinesu did not feature in the match as he was an unused substitute. The former Warriors star, however, took a firm stand against the racist behaviour by his club’s fans in a series of tweets.
“Good feeling to progress to Cup Final, but sad to hear monkey chants during the game. Sport has no color #onesport #onepeople. We are all human beings!! #NoToRacism… Let’s create a better future for the younger generation and enjoy the beautiful game,” the veteran defender said.
In another tweet, Nhamoinesu said: “The real @ACSparta_CZ …… family is against racism. It’s The Club that has taken positive initiatives in the Czech League against racism. The real @ACSparta_CZ fans are passionate about soccer…”
It was the first time that the fans were being allowed into the stadium after the Covid-19 pandemic forced break and 2 000 spectators made it into the stadium.
The radical section of the fans hung a banner which read “White Lives Matter” in the Spartan “cauldron” which stirred a lot of controversy as a direct challenge to the Black Live Matter movement.
Costa and some of his teammates publicly supported the American Black Lives Matter movement.
The Zimbabwean also apologised to Kayamba for the behaviour of the Sparta fans.
“I’m sorry he (Kayamba) had to endure the imitation of monkey screams during the match at our stadium. If he (the fans) shows monkey screams at you, it applies to me. It’s not just sad for you, but for all of us, we’re in it together. It is a great pity that something similar is still happening and it is tarnishing our sport. Thank you to the real fans who support Sparta,” he was quoted as saying.
The 34-year-old defender, whose Sparta contract expires on June 30, has been capped nine times by Zimbabwe.
