Muntari walked off the pitch during a game between Pescara and Caglieri – He walked off the pitch in protest of racial abuse from fans Former Ghanaian Black Star player, Sulley Muntari, has walked off the pitch during a game between Pescara and Caglieri over unconfirmed racist remarks made by fans.
The incident occurred when Sulley Muntari, having heard racial remarks from the stands, proceeded to go to the stands to talk to the fans slapping his skin in visible agitation. The match referee then told the former Ghanaian international not to talk to fans, as it was his job. The referees remarks clearly did not go down well with Muntari. He protested the referees decision not to stop the match in light of the racial abuse he received. Referee Minelli booked Sulley Muntari for dissent, which prompted the former Black Star player to walk off the pitch in protest. Fortunately for Muntari, no further disciplinary action was taken.
Speaking to the media afterwards Sulley Muntari expressed his disappointment with the referee’s course of action, expressing that the referee should’ve been more decisive in the matter. “I asked him if I had heard the insults. I insisted that he must have the courage to stop the game.” Sulley Muntari is definitely not the first Ghanaian born player to sustain racial abuse from Italian football fans. In 2013, Sulley Muntari also walked off the pitch in solidarity with his Ghanaian teammate, Kevin-Prince Boateng. FIFA applauded the players’ response, although the football governing body said that the players’ walking off protest was unnecessary.
