Uruguay’s Spanish language academy has labelled the Football Association as “ignorant” after handing Edinson Cavani a three-game ban.
The Manchester United striker was also handed a £100,000 fine for what the FA deemed to be an “abusive” comment on Instagram following a 3-2 win against Southampton in November.
Cavani was made aware after posting the comment that about how the phrase ‘negrito’ is understood in the UK and quickly deleted the post. He also apologised fort any offence it caused, even though nobody — bar the FA — felt it brought the game into disrepute.
The former PSG and Napoli goalscorer must. Complete face-to-face education after admitting to the charge.
He issued an apology insisting he was “completely opposed to racism”, as per The Guardian.
However, Uruguay’s Academia Nacional de Letras has argued that the term Cavani used was meant as a term of endearment and is commonly used in the South American country.
“In the Spanish of Uruguay, for example, in couples or among friends, between parents and children, one often hears and reads expressions such as… gordito, negri, negrito. In fact, a person so addressed is not necessarily overweight or dark-skinned,” the academy said in a statement.
They strongly reject Cavani’s punishment and said the FA’s “questionable resolution” was the result of “poverty of cultural and linguistic knowledge”.
The statement argued that the FA had “committed a serious injustice to a Uruguayan athlete of the highest international level and has exposed ignorance… regarding the use of language and in particular Spanish, without taking note of all its complexities and contexts.”
It would be fair to say this hasn’t gone down well in Uruguay.
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