Manchester United have responded to the Football Association after the governing body expressed its ‘surprise’ at the lack of social media training given to striker Edinson Cavani.
Cavani was hit with a three-match ban for an Instagram post that was deemed to contain racist language, namely the word ‘negrito’, which is interpreted differently in the striker’s Uruguayan homeland. He deleted the post, made after his two goals in United’s 3-2 win over Southampton in November, when the context was made clear to him.
United and Cavani admitted the charge, though believed Cavani should not have been hit with a ban.
The FA have since published their reasons for the sanctions, which also included a £100,000 fine and compulsory face-to-face education. In a detailed document, the governing body expressed its ‘surprise’ that Cavani had not undertaken specific social media training.
Cavani had to observe a quarantine period after his arrival in October, due to covid-19 protocols, and United feel as though that made such training difficult to organise. The incident occurred before the club had been able to arrange a course, which is usually commonplace for new arrivals.
United think it is unrealistic that any media training with players would be able to cover every possible interpretation of every word and phrase in each language. But the club want to use Cavani’s case as a high-profile example going forward, calling for the FA to use the money from the fine directly towards anti-racism initiatives.
A United statement said: “We are pleased that the [FA] commission acknowledged that Cavani’s post was ‘not designed or intended to be racist or offensive either to his friend or others reading the content of the Instagram post’ and that there ‘was no intent on the part of the player to be discriminatory or offensive in any way’.
“The club and player have consistently expressed support for the fight against racism and out of respect for that, Edinson Cavani chose not to contest the charge.”
Given the context and intent around Cavani’s “honest mistake”, United maintain it should not have resulted in a charge, though they accept the FA’s application of the rules.
United’s initial statement when the three-game ban was announced said: “Cavani wasn’t aware that his words could have been misconstrued and he sincerely apologised for the post and to anyone who was offended.
“The club trusts that the independent regulatory commission will make it clear in its written reasons that Edinson Cavani is not a racist, nor was there any racist intent in relation to his post.”
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FA nonsense. It will cause meaninglessness to the fight against racism.