A man has received a one-year prison sentence for racially abusing Athletic Bilbao forward Inaki Williams during a La Liga match at Espanyol’s Cornella-El Prat stadium in 2020. The unnamed defendant was rightly punished to the fullest extent for his misconduct. He pled guilty to pay a fine and accepted a three-year ban from all football stadiums. Moreover, he will be barred for five years from public service in educational or athletics-related fields.
The abuse Williams faced was overwhelming. The evidence showed that during the game, defendant began making monkey noises and accompanying monkey gestures, which shocked and appalled the player and made him feel sad and depressed. Williams continued to brand the insults “absolutely unacceptable,” noting that football needs to be played in a respectful environment. He is best known for La Furia Roja becoming a leading force in Spanish football. Born in Bilbao to Ghanaian parents who’d met in a refugee camp, he’s since become a passionate campaigner for fighting racism in the sport.
According to Spanish law, prison sentences of under two years for non-violent offenses are automatically suspended for first-time offenders. Therefore, except for an inability to pay fine factor, the defendant would not do any real jail time unless he repeatedly re-offends. This environment of impunity has often called into question the efficacy of existing punishments for racial abuse in sport.
The incident involving Williams is not isolated. It overlaps with increased attention to racism in Spanish football. In 2023, Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr. made a powerful statement. After suffering racist slurs while playing at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium, he went public with his accusations against La Liga and Spain for failing to adequately fight racial abuse. This latest instance of a long and terrible trend has led to urgent calls for harsher penalties for racist acts in soccer.
Inaki Williams’ example has shined a light on larger issues of anti-Black racism that plague Spanish stadiums alike. Only a few months later Athletic Bilbao’s game at Espanyol had to be stopped in the same way. He filed a report on racist abuse directed at his teammate, Maroan Sannadi. Racial abuse has become a recurring threat to players in La Liga. This sobering truth requires more vigorous accountability, transparency, and oversight from clubs and governing bodies to guarantee the safety of all players.
