Banana thrown at Brazilian players in soccer friendly in Paris — for kicks only
In the Brazilian press, the outrage over Argentina’s alleged use of illegal soccer players in France for the World Cup qualifiers was huge.
But as for those who saw the incident, or the photos, or the videos – for kicks only, let’s go down that rabbit hole.
But first: it is difficult to imagine what is worse: watching and taking photos of an actual game in which the ball is thrown over the wall of a sports stand; or the kind of reaction to the news story of the day, which is in an entire country. But then, how many more people have thrown a banana at a soccer player than at a banana stand?
So, let us set aside the banana. And go to the photos (you know, the one of the player taking the throwaway) and videos of the moment. What can we say about what happened? The pictures show, obviously, an object being hurled, or thrown, at the player.
Now, I am no sports expert and I had no part in making these pictures, but as far as we know, a soccer player does not catch a banana in the head. The video shows a player being tackled by the French defender, and then being thrown to the ground, face down. There is no way he could have reached out to grab the banana and in this position, it is possible for the player to do something else and to get a good kick in the back. The first part of the video shows the player grabbing it and tossing it to the ground. The French player is not seen going for the ball, but he is seen making contact with the player.
In any case, we cannot say what could have happened here. It is not the case here that the player has done something bad. I, personally, would probably consider that player to be “nice”, for the most part. It could be that he is doing his job as a defender, and that this is a part of sports that is sometimes violent.
But there is a third explanation, one that comes with less certainty: the referee. The referee is the one calling the game. It is not as simple as a “referee in the stands” makes the decisions. The fact
