This archive report was first published on 4 September 2019.
Italian football fans have sparked controversy after dismissing claims of racist abuse against Romelu Lukaku during a recent match.
On Sunday, Lukaku, a Belgian international, was targeted by monkey chants from a section of the home crowd during Inter Milan's 2-1 Serie A win at Cagliari.
However, a group of hardcore Inter Milan supporters, known as 'L'Urlo della Nord', have written an open letter to Lukaku, telling him that fans making monkey noises was not a sign of racism.
"Hi Romelu. We are really sorry you thought that what happened in Cagliari was racist," the fans wrote.
"You have to understand that Italy is not like many other north European countries where racism is a REAL problem," the letter continued.
"We understand that it could have seemed racist to you, but it is not like that. In Italy we use some 'ways' only to 'help our teams' and to try to make our opponents nervous, not for racism but to mess them up," the fans explained.
"We are a multi-ethnic fans organisation and we have always welcomed players from everywhere. However, we have always used that 'way' with other teams' players in the past and we probably will in the future," the letter stated.
"We are not racist and so are not the Cagliari fans," the fans added.
Published on September 4, 2019, by AFP.
