Jeonbuk assistant coach Mauricio Taricco suspended for racist gesture
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Then Sunderland assistant coach Mauricio Taricco at a pre-season match against Hartlepool United in July 2014. He is now Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors' assistant coach and has been suspended and fined for a racist gesture.
PHOTO: ACTION IMAGES
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South Korean top-flight K-League’s disciplinary committee on Nov 19 suspended Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors assistant coach Mauricio Taricco for five matches over the Argentinian making a racist gesture during a match on Nov 8.
Taricco, a former Tottenham Hotspur player, was sent off after arguing with the referee while appealing for a penalty during the match against Daejeon Hana Citizen.
The 52-year-old then screamed the word “racista”, the Spanish word for racist, at the referee before making a slanted-eye gesture, the K-League said in a statement.
Taricco, in a statement to the committee, had said that he pointed to his eyes to indicate that the referee had not directly observed a handball.
“The disciplinary committee stated that ‘the evaluation of a specific act should be based on the universal meaning of the act as expressed, rather than the perpetrator’s stated intentions’, the K-League said.
“Based on these criteria, coach Taricco’s actions were identical to the widely known “slant-eye” derogatory gesture against Asians and sufficiently inflicted feelings of racial insult on the recipient.”
Taricco was also fined 20 million won (S$17,803). REUTERS
