Mario Balotelli was shown a yellow card in a football game after he complained to the referee that fans were racially abusing him.
The incident happened during the Ligue 1 clash between Nice's match against Dijon on Saturday.
Dans l’intervalle, Mario Balotelli a hérité d’un carton jaune, après… s’être agacé d’insultes racistes du public. pic.twitter.com/5C1V8MXBYq
— OGC Nice (@ogcnice) February 10, 2018
The Italian striker tried to bring the referees attention to alleged racist taunts only to be shown a yellow card.
Kick It Out is an organisation that endeavours to promote equality and inclusion to football, in a statement the group criticised the referees handling of the incident:
“It is unacceptable and wrong.”
Following the decision by a referee to caution Mario Balotelli for complaining about alleged racist chants during Nice’s fixture against Dijon on Saturday (10 February), we have released the following statement: https://t.co/3Lhom0J1lw pic.twitter.com/XaHC9mHCoL
— Kick It Out (@kickitout) February 12, 2018
“It is unacceptable and wrong to see that once again, a match official has failed to apply the UEFA protocol - in place for a number of years - which requires action to be taken to stop the game to deal with the offending abuse.
“Although Kick It Out's remit is within English football, the organisation has contacted anti-discrimination network Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) to see what actions they will be taking in raising this with Ligue 1 officials.
“The organisation expects a strong response from the French football authorities in condemning both the alleged racist chanting from Dijon supporters and the failure of the referee to follow protocol to halt the behaviour as well as the decision to compound Balotelli's experience as a victim by booking him for merely asking the match official to do his job.'
