Zamparini has Officially Lost his Damn Mind

By: Martha | March 12th, 2007

Dirty gypsy! Not content to just rant furiously and periodically threaten to leave football (”this time I am not kidding!”), Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini has now introduced a racial element into his club’s anger over Adrian Mutu’s goal in yesterday’s match. Really, I think it’s best that I just let Zamp speak for himself this time. Ready?

“He was very smart, he acted like a little gypsy. Moreover, all Romanians are cunning. We were foolish and they took advantage of this.”

AH! So that’s what happened! It wasn’t that Mutu either didn’t know Guana was down, or was just going forward hard in the hope that the official would hold his whistle. It turns out he was helpless before his ethnicity! Inside, he was probably desperate to play the ball out and run to Guana’s side, but that damn Romanian (and gypsy, too!) blood coursing through his veins wouldn’t allow him to be anything but “cunning.” Hey, maybe if we eliminate all Romanians from the league, everything will be ok! That’s something I don’t think anyone’s tried yet …

Oh, and in case you were wondering? Zamparini is leaving Palermo. No, really. At this point, despite how amusing I’ve found him in the past, I think I’d be willing to help him pack his bags — whatever his intention here, the man is way, way across the line.

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Category: Fiorentina, Palermo, Rumors & News, Serie A

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cosmin

typical italian style to speak out of their ass
rose

go see the damage control. no, really. it might be one of the best things zamparini has ever said. EVER.
waleed

Wow! For a club president to say something so hateful is disturbing. Zampa was always a crazy cook though and we all enjoyed his all too frequent harmless outbursts. But, as much as we like him for it I think the late Fachetti (RIP) said it best when he said that knowing how to hold your tongue is not a commodity that can be found on the shelves of a supermarket.
Stef

Ugh, unfortunately it reads pretty badly in the Italian, too. Man, I love me some Zampa, but wow. Iiii think I'm just going to replay the Cavani goal ~~thirty~~ a couple times and salivate into oblivion, if you don't mind.

(I'm just hoping that perhaps he's still delirious from being ill over the weekend. Representing a team whose made strides against the region's own stereotypes with this? Ummm...I liked press silence better :\)
Lisa

Satine, much as I wish that were the case, I don't see a way for Zamparini saying a player acted like a gypsy to be anything but racist.
Satine

I always tend to defend people or I'm hopelessly naive but maybe he didn't mean it like "that". There is still the possibility that this was a translation mistake (yes, I know it's unlikely but still...).

But I have to agree that there is a lot of latent racism in this sport.
Martha

It's been a particularly depressing 36 hours or so, if you combine this and Stephen Makinwa's accusation that Reggina’s Salvatore Aronica hit him with a racial slur in yesterday's game.
tmc

This is a good chance to take a stand, obviously racism has no place in the game, especially coming from someone in Zamparini's position. But it is unfortunately far too prevalent both in Italy and in European football in general.
Martha

I don't know about coherency, Lisa, but thanks.

I just can't wait for the denials -- how can they possibly spin this one?
Eddie

He is a disgrace to the game.
Lisa

Thank you for writing about this. And with such coherency. (My reaction was along the lines of "He SAID that? Out loud? To reporters? WTF?? Has he lost his alleged mind?")