Italian rugby team accused of racism after player was gifted 'rotten banana' in Secret Santa gift exchange

An Italian rugby player has spoken out on social media and accused his team of racism after he was given a "rotten banana" during the team’s annual "Secret Santa" gift exchange, adding that this is not the first time he has been subjected to "racist jokes."

Cherif Traore, who plays as a prop for Benetton Rugby, posted a lengthy message on Instagram Wednesday accusing his team of gifting him a "rotten banana" during a Christmas gift exchange celebration. 

"Christmas is coming and as traditionally in a team it's Secret Santa time. A friendly and playful moment. A moment where you can afford to give anonymous gifts to your mates, even stingy, ironic ones," Traore wrote via Instagram’s translation of the post.

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"Yesterday, when it was my turn, I found a banana inside my present. A rotten banana, inside a bag of moisture. Apart from calling the gesture offensive, what hurt me most and seeing most of my mates present laughing. As if everything is normal."

He continued, I'm used to it, or better, I've had to get used to it, having to make a good face on a bad game whenever I hear racist jokes in order to try not to hate the people close to me. Yesterday was different though."

Traore said some members of the team, "especially foreigners," expressed their support of him, but he chose to speak out about the incident "to ensure that episodes like this don't happen again to prevent other people finding themselves in my current situation in the future."

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The team issued an initial statement Wednesday but did not say if an investigation into the incident would follow.

"With reference to the post that appeared this morning on the social profiles of the green-and-white player Cherif Traore, Benetton Rugby would like to reiterate that it has always condemned with the utmost firmness any expression of racism and/or form of discrimination," the statement read. "They are not part of our culture and do not represent our identity and our values. We have always proved it with deeds, not just with words, and we will continue to strongly support it."

"Similar behaviors have nothing to do with sport and in the face of such episodes Benetton Rugby will always be on the side of respect for people, their culture, their ethnicity, their faith and their dignity," the statement continued.

In a follow-up statement, the club said it held a meeting to "present the firm position of condemnation by the company towards any form of expression of racism and form of discrimination," followed by apologies from the entire team. 

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"This afternoon's meeting was an opportunity to discuss and understand how what one of my companions did on the occasion of exchanging Christmas presents is purely the result of idiocy and nothing other," Traore said in a statement provided by the team.

"I appreciate and accept his apology and that of the entire team. I'm happy with the gesture and I'm sure what happened will make the group even more solid. We are a family and as such we will continue to commit ourselves on and off the pitch, fighting, as we always have, against all forms of discrimination."

The player who gave Traore the gift has not been identified.