Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann Japan tour video is a sorry affair
- Dembele and Griezmann have ‘apologised’, as have the La Liga giants, but there still needs to be action over leaked clips
- Japanese sponsors Rakuten and Konami have asked for answers but there are only questions so far as to what comes next
Footballers have long been an easy target for fans and the media.
Nowadays though, it is for being “woke” or “supporting a Marxist organisation” or “not sticking to football” as it is for some deplorable incident in a nightclub.
Take the current England squad. They have collectively taken a stand against racism by taking a knee despite boos from their own “fans” and condemnation from the Conservative government that has now jumped on the Three Lions bandwagon, freshly unpacked England shirts and all.
Many as individuals have stepped in where that government has fallen short – Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford campaigning to feed the country’s children – or promoted other causes close to them. Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson showed his support for an LGBTQ England fan after the Denmark game.
It’s a stark contrast to the previous reputation of those on “Planet Football” – a world of star strikers lighting cigars with 50 pound notes to antagonise members of the general public, shocking – often criminal – Christmas parties, champagne bottle wars, and vile viral videos of the seedier side of their summers off.
That behaviour had begun to seem like less of a thing in the modern game but it has not gone, as seen in leaked videos of France and Barcelona teammates Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann.
The videos do not reflect well on either footballer. One features Dembele mocking two Japanese hotel workers, the other appears to show Griezmann mocking an Asian language.
That the videos – which were never intended to be made public – were filmed on Barcelona’s tour of Japan in 2019 makes them problematic.
E-commerce behemoth Rakuten, the club’s main sponsor since the 2017 season, is Japanese, as is Konami – a club partner which already sacked Griezmann as brand ambassador. The video game giant will not have been happy with Dembele mentioning Pro Evolution Soccer among comments about “ugly faces” and “backward language”.
The players have since “apologised”. Dembele went first.
“Hello everyone, lately, a private video from 2019 circulated on the social networks.
“The scene happens in Japan. It could have happened anywhere on the planet, I would have used the same expressions. Therefore I was not aiming at any community.
“I happen to use these kind of expressions in private, with friends, and it doesn’t matter their origin.
“This video is now public. Therefore I concede that the video could hurt the people in these images. Therefore, I offer my sincere apologies.”
This is not an apology and doing it via a self-deleting Instagram Story questions the sincerity of it.
Griezmann then had a go on Twitter.
“I have always been committed against any form of discrimination. For the past few days, some people have wanted to pass me off as the man I am not. I firmly refute the accusations made against me and I am sorry if I could offend my Japanese friends.”
Also not an apology.
The club tried – a full 48 hours later. It had all the right words, condemning the “lack of respect” from the players, speaking of “values” and declaring that, “At FC Barcelona there is no place for racism or discrimination.”
So far so good but the actual apology comes with a caveat.
“FC Barcelona would like to apologise publicly to all the club’s fans and partners who feel unhappy about this event from the summer of 2019, a time when the club’s responsibilities fell to a board of directors and executive team previous to the current.
“The board of directors that today manage the club are committed to making sure episodes of this nature do not repeat themselves.”
That is also not an apology, not really, and ‘it happened under another board’ is an odd political point to score for a club that prides itself on its long-standing values.
“The players have already shown their regret and have apologised to Japanese fans and partners, something that the club values. Nevertheless, FC Barcelona reserve the right to take the internal measures that it considers appropriate.”
Surely Rakuten, Konami and Japanese fans cannot be happy with this as a conclusion?
The club have an opportunity to take a stand with “internal measures” and it will be interesting to see what they are. Other clubs have been in this position as there have been unsavoury incidents aplenty on Asian tours.
Leicester City sacked players over a Thailand sex tape, Chelsea had their hands slapped by the Chinese FA over Kenedy’s social media posts and he has barely featured since, while Juventus are being sued in South Korea for Cristiano Ronaldo not playing.
Both Barcelona players have been mentioned as possible transfers out as they look to slash their wage bill to re-sign Lionel Messi.
That would be convenient for the club, which is known to be financially imperilled and where the money from Rakuten is more important than ever.
It is no secret that FC Barcelona were part of the aborted European Super League for the money, a project that targets fans in Asia – and their wallets.
This was the same club who never used to have a shirt sponsor and now more than ever needs to keep it.
“Mes que un club”, the Catalans style themselves. Time to prove it by doing more to punish Dembele and Griezmann.
