Lilian Thuram Sticks Two Fingers Up At Racist Le Pen
French defender Lilian Thuram received unanimous applause from the assembled media at France’s press conference for refuting French National Front leader Jean Marie Le Pen’s claims that the French squad weren’t “French” enough because there were too many “players of colour” in the current squad.
(See article online from The Guardian newspaper)
Thuram himself was born on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe and despite having won 118 caps for his country, he obviously doesn’t impress Monsieur Le Pen who would rather have a side full of bumbling René’s from ‘Allo ‘Allo than a time with non-whites in it.
One particularly pertinent point from Thuram’s press conference:
“When we take to the field, we do so as Frenchmen. All of us. When people were celebrating our win, they were celebrating us as Frenchmen, not black men or white men. It doesn’t matter if we’re black or not, because we’re French. I’ve just got one thing to say to Jean Marie Le Pen. The French team are all very, very proud to be French. If he’s got a problem with us, that’s down to him but we are proud to represent this country. So Vive la France, but the true France. Not the France that he wants.”
Even in 2006 we see hateful bigots like Jean Marie Le Pen spouting their poison and trying to drag football into their vile world. Unfortunately for Le Pen this isn’t 1936, in 2006 people are less afraid to speak out and when highly respected players like Lilian Thuram do have their say, we know which side of the argument we give our support to. Well done Lilian, I’m sure the vast majority of French people are right behind you and the side, the only colours they care about when France take the field are the blue, white and red of your team kit and the gold of the World Cup trophy.
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POSTED IN: Past World Cups
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