Rugby: Argentina captain among 3 players suspended for 'discriminatory and xenophobic' posts
New Zealand's Beauden Barrett is tackled by Argentina's Pablo Matera during the Tri-Nations rugby test between Argentina and New Zealand at Bankwest Stadium in Sydney on Saturday, Nov 14, 2020. (Photo: AP/Rick Rycroft)
SYDNEY: Pablo Matera has been stripped of the captaincy of the Argentina national rugby team and suspended along with two teammates over historic social media posts which have been deemed “discriminatory and xenophobic”.
The suspensions were announced on Tuesday (Dec 1) after an emergency meeting of the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR), and further disciplinary action may be coming.
Matera became a national hero when he led the Argentina team to its first-ever win over New Zealand's All Blacks during the Tri-Nations series in Australia three weeks ago. Now he, veteran lock Guido Petti and hooker Santiago Socino will miss Los Pumas’ final Tri-Nations match against Australia in Sydney on Saturday as their suspensions begin.
The board of UAR issued a statement saying it “repudiates the discriminatory and xenophobic comments published by members of the Los Pumas team on social networks”.
It said the board resolved to “first, revoke the captaincy of Pablo Matera" and asked the national team staff to propose a new captain to them.
The board also ordered the suspension of Matera, Petti and Socino from the national team "until resolving disciplinary actions" and ordered that a disciplinary case be opened on the three players, to be handled by UAR's disciplinary commission.
The statement said the social media posts were made between 2011 and 2013 and “don’t represent the integrity as personas all three have shown throughout this time with Los Pumas”.
But it said “the Argentine Rugby Union condemns all kinds of hate speech and consider unacceptable that those who conveyed them represent our country”.
The posts, mostly tweets, were reportedly aimed at black people and Bolivian and Paraguayan domestic workers.
Matera has closed his Twitter account and expressed regret over the messages on Instagram.
“Today I have to take (responsibility) for what I said nine years ago,” Matera said. “I am very ashamed. Apologies to all those who were offended by the atrocities I wrote. At that moment I did not imagine who I was going to become.
"I’m also sorry to my team and my family for the moment they are going through ... and thanks to the people who love me for their support.”
