Mario Balotelli, Luis Suarez, and Italian Racism

A figurine of Mario Balotelli between those of two
holy men: Pope Francis and Francesco Totti.

One star scored the winning goal against England, did nothing much in a loss to Costa Rica, and was replaced at half-time in the decisive game after getting a yellow card for a stupid foul. The other scored the winning goal against England, sat out a loss to Costa Rica due to injury, and committed an outrageous foul that elicited global scorn and got him banned from the remainder of the tournament.  Guess which star is being ostracized and singled out as the embodiment of flawed egoism.  Yes, the black man who plays for the white country.

After Italy's elimination from the World Cup, by toothsome Luis Suarez and Uruguay, a tidal wave of angry criticism of Mario Balotelli swept through Italian media and the Internet.

Balotelli is accused of being lazy and not trying, of being childish and unable to control his temper, and committing a stupid foul that forced his coach to bench him at a critical time. The coach, the argument goes, says he was worried that Balotelli would commit another dumb foul and get himself ejected, forcing the team to play with one man down. The great irony is that another Italian player, Marchisio, actually got himself ejected from that same game, and, yet, is not blamed for the defeat. Bad call by the referee, Italian pundits moan.  Marchisio, by the way, is white.

Italian soccer has been rocked
by repeated racist incidents.

Balotelli is further charged with failing to carry the team into the second round. He was the offense of the team. It was designed around his particular skills. This is often the case with great talents. Portugal is designed around Cristiano Ronaldo.  He scored one goal, just like Balotelli, and the Portugal are also out. Sweden is built around Ibrahimovic, and they didn't even make it to Brazil.  Uruguay is structured around Luis Suarez (with all due respect to the talented Edison Cavani), and his oral fixation has most likely condemned the team to a quick exit. The failure of these teams has lead to some grousing about their mega-stars, but no cascade of hate and blame, even in the case of Suarez where global shame is being heaped on the player.

All of these players are superstars. They receive a disproportionate amount of attention and are paid outrageous sums of money to play, what is in essence, a kid's game. Along with the inevitable envy of their riches, fed, in some cases, by outsized egos and by relentless publicity, there is also a baseline of admiration and respect accorded to great players by fans. And come World Cup time, by co-nationals. There is solidarity and loyalty.

But not with Balotelli. He was immediately fingered as the culprit by his fellow players. Balotelli left the team locker room alone, and sat on the bus alone, while the coach bade goodbye to the  rest of the team. He was subject to racist rants and posts on the internet. Italian fans regularly greet Balotelli with the chat that "there are no black Italians." And on TV, despite a general consensus the the whole team played badly, only one player was singled out for blame: Super Maro.

African immigrants in the police
immigration center.

Balotelli, in a raw post on instagram, responded to a fan's accusation that he had not tried because he was not a real Italian. His response is heatbreaking: I was born in Italy, he writes, and chose to be Italian. He then lashes out at the lack of solidarity he feels from his fellow Italians. Africans are smarter than us, they do not turn on their brothers, he pleads. This last comment, of course, was received as a slap in the face by the Italian media. Poisonous, one pundit describe his post. Out of bounds, declared a football official. Not the racism Balotelli is regularly subjected too, one supposes, but the temerity of comparing Italian unfavorably to Africans.

After the loss to Uruguay, the Italian national coach and the director of Italy's national football federation presented their resignations. The witch hunt rages on. Mario Balotelli, a black Italian, is the perfect outsider - too young and rich and talented. Too tall. Blame him. Rip him to shreds.