Mario Balotelli Got A Suspension for His Biased Post

On Dec 18, 2014, Balotelli, the striker of Liverpool was given a one-match suspension by the Football Association (FA), because his Instagram post had some prejudiced words (“Liverpool’s Mario Balotelli,” 2014). Balotelli uploaded a picture with the video-game character Super Mario. Furthermore, there are some words on the picture, including “Don’t be racist! Be like Mario. He’s an Italian plumber created by Japanese people, who speaks English and looks like a Mexican… jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew” (Augustine, 2014, para 4).

His post was considered racist and anti-Semitic. Even though Balotelli deleted his post soon, (BBC Sport Football, 2014, para. 1 ) his post still caused a severe negative impact on the Internet. After being criticized online, Balotelli responded as: “My mom is Jewish so all of you shut up please” (Augustine, 2014, para 7). However, he also declared that: “I used a cartoon done by somebody else because it has Super Mario and I thought it was funny and not offensive. Again, I’m sorry” (Augustine, 2014, para 10). After the FA announcing their decision, Balotelli affirmed with the FA’s decision.

In this biased incident, I think Balotelli did not mean to offend anyone, and he quickly deleted what he wrote, but his post may cause negative influences within society. However, Balotelli has been criticized by fans before because of his extreme words, and he deserved a punishment when he crossed the line this time. In addition, because Balotelli’s post disobeyed the rule of the FA, as a member of the FIFA, the FA considered the action of Balotelli was a violation of the FA’s rule. Since Balotelli was suspended, he did not show up at the game between Liverpool and Arsenal. I think the constraint force from FA is essential to restrain player’s behavior.

So what do you think of this incident? In your opinion, do you think the enforcement of the FA is essential to fix the ethical problems in soccer? 

References :

Augustine. B. (December 2, 2014). Soccer star Mario Balotelli apologizes for Instagram post that has been criticized as racist and anti-Semitic .  Daily News. Retrieved from                    http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/soccer/mario-balotelli-faces-probe-racist-instagram-post-article-1.2030021 

Liverpool’s Mario Balotelli given one-match ban for Instagram post  (2014, December 18). NESN. Retrieved from               
http://nesn.com/2014/12/mario-balotelli-banned-for-one-match-after-offensive-instagram-post/
.

Mario Balotelli: Liverpool striker sorry for Instagram post. (2014, (December 2). BBC Sport Football. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/30289692 

--- By Veeco Zheng

---