German Admits Throwing Banana At Neymar During Scotland-Brazil Friendly

After Brazil striker Neymar complained of racist abuse in the form of a hurled banana during the friendly between Brazil and Scotland, which Brazil won 2-0, there was quite a lot of fuss - Scottish fans claimed that he was merely being booed for his tendency to fall down a lot, while Neymar quite rightly pointed out that people don’t normally have bananas thrown at them in a gentle and loving manner.

To deepen the mystery, the offending object didn’t even emerge from the Tartan Army end, so nobody had any idea who the perpetrator was, some even accusing Brazil fans of throwing the banana in celebration (if you bought that story, I have several thousand acres on Mars to sell you). Scotland fans were right to suspect that it wasn’t one of their own who did the deed, as it turns out, because according to the Guardian a German has now admitted to throwing it, apparently with ‘no racist intent’:

The really interesting point of the story, to me at least, is the flak Neymar got from reporting the incident. Picture this: You’re a 19 year-old who doesn’t understand English, you’re being booed by thousands of people (again, in a language you don’t speak), and someone makes an obviously racist gesture. What exactly are you supposed to think there? It’s perfectly reasonable to conclude that you were the subject of racist abuse, and the Santos striker was also quick to move on from the incident.

The behaviour of Scottish fans at the match itself was commendable, and allegations of racism are serious enough to make their subsequent defensiveness understandable, but there was only one victim here: Neymar himself. Vilifying the boy seems, to me at least, to have been an incorrect response to the bizarre affair.