Brazilian Football Club Grêmio Is Disqualified After Historic Ruling of Racism

09/04/2014 - 09h11

The Brazilian Court of Arbitration for Sport passed a unanimous vote to have the Brazilian football club Grêmio kicked out of the Brazilian Cup championship.

This is the first time in Brazilian football history that a club is disqualified for racist conduct on behalf of supporters.

The ruling awarded on Wednesday, September 3rd, was revealed after a four hour long court hearing for racial comments made towards Santos goalkeeper, Aranha, last Thursday, August 28th.

The club had won by 2-0 in Porto Alegre, but has now been disqualified from the quarter final playoffs.

During the hearing on Wednesday, the accusation put forward by attorney general Rafael Vanzin pointed out the recurrent nature of the discrimination perpetrated by Grêmio supporters.

Vanzin mentioned that during the match that took place on March 30th, Internacional's defender Paulão was harassed by Grêmio supporters. The episode ended in a US$ 36,000 high fine.

Grêmio's president, Fábio Koff, said that a punishment would be degrading to the club's image. However, he argued that the team helped to identify the aggressors and that this should help shorten the sentence.

In addition to disqualification, Grêmio has been fined US$ 22,500. The perpetrators have been banned from attending any of the club's matches for 720 days.

After the ruling, Kiff himself announced that the club was going to appeal. Tiago Brunetto, one of the club's lawyers, admitted he requested the tournament be stopped while its hearing is pending.

"Our idea is not to disrupt the tournament, but we cannot allow Grêmio to be punished in such a way", he said.

Referee Wilton Pereira Sampaio has been suspended for 45 days and fined US$ 361 for not reporting racist offenses. Assistants that attended the match were also suspended and fined.

Translated by CRISTIANE COSTA LIMA

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	Reprodução
	Images from ESPN Brazil show at least one fan shouting what appears to be the word "monkey"