Muntari Encourages Players To Walk Off Pitch In Face Of Racist Abuse

Former Ghana international Sulley Muntari has encouraged footballers to walk off the pitch anytime they are subjected to racist abuse as he calls for a united front in the fight against racism.

Muntari is one of the few players to have abandoned a football match after suffering racist abuse from fans.

The incident occurred in 2017 when he Muntari was at Pescara. During a league match away at Cagliari, he was racially abused by the home fans. He walked off the pitch after being booked by the referee for reporting racist abuse.

“When I was going and I felt that [racist chants], I just walked out of the pitch. They felt that they won. No. It was I who won. Only me, I took everything so whenever you encounter that kind of situation, you should just walk out [of the pitch],” Muntari told Marawa Sports Worldwide on Metro FM.

“We just have to come together to fight it. If FIFA or whoever is fighting it [then it is fine]. We really need to fight it. You just don’t have to do it and buckle because it doesn’t happen on one or two [occasions].

“It is a lot of occasions that this has happened. If you want to work on it or you want to brush it away. What do you do? You fight it and make sure that it’s out.”

Over the weekend, a 12-year-old boy was arrested after racist messages were sent to Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha.