Russian club Torpedo Moscow have cancelled the contract of Erving Botaka-Yoboma six days after signing him – because fans protested that he was black. Teenage defender Botaka-Yoboma had joined Torpedo last week on the eve of the new season.
But his capture sparked huge protests from bigoted supporters who posted threatening messages and demanded a “white-only” side.And just a week after the eyes of the globe were on Russia 2018, the second division club have caved in to the pressure and announced the 19-year-old will no longer be playing for them.Torpedo Moscow president Elena Yelentseva has announced that new signing Erving Botaka-Yoboma, who joined the club only six days ago, will not play for the team after fans publicly denounced the signing of a black player.
The defender was born and raised in Russia of African descent. One fans’ group, who call themselves the Zapad-5 Ultras, wrote on Russian social media site Vkontakte: “Black may be one of our club’s colours, but we only want whites in our ranks.”
And another menacingly wrote: “Since you consider it acceptable to come into our home and our family without regard for our rules and traditions, we reserve that same right. “We will see who comes out on top.” When the protests were first made, Torpedo owner Roman Avdeyev blasted the racist fans and said: “There is no ‘skin colour’ in our criteria. We’ve never noticed it and will never notice it.”
But it appears the stance of the club has now changed just days later. The shocking protests have been blasted by Alexander Zotov, who is head of the All-Russian Union of Footballers. Zotov said: “There have been changes in attitude after the World Cup, but a group of idiots still remains. People with a limited world view exist in any country. We saw how open our society and people were during the World Cup.”
The comments have been met with condemnation by a number of Russian football officials, including the club’s owner Roman Avdeyev. Avdeyev defended the decision to sign Botaka-Yoboma, who is also a former academy player of FC Torpedo Moscow.
He said: ‘There is no ‘skin colour’ in our criteria. We’ve never noticed it and will never notice it.’ Alexander Zotov, who is head of the All-Russian Union of Footballers, said the ‘idiots’ weren’t representative of football fans in Russia.
‘There have been changes in attitude after the World Cup, but a group of idiots still remains,’ Zotov said.’People with a limited worldview exist in any country. We saw how open our society and people were [during the World Cup].’
Later fans also expressed displeasure at the fact that Botaka-Yoboma had previously turned out for a rival club, Russian champions Lokomotiv Moscow.
This is not the first time Russian fans have criticised the signing of non-white players. In 2012 supporters of Zenit St Petersburg issued an open letter to club management calling for black players to be excluded from the team following the high-profile double signing of Belgium international Axel Witsel and Brazil international Hulk.
As it happens, Torpedo have previously fielded an African player – in fact, Nigeria international Augustine Eguavoen became the first black footballer to ever play in Russia when he made his debut for the club in 1997.