The Surinaamse Voetbal Bond (SVB) has filed an official complaint with Concacaf, the football confederation for North and Central America and the Caribbean. Players and staff members of Suriname were allegedly subjected to racist abuse from the stands during the Nations League match in Guatemala.
During the return journey to Europe, general manager Brian Tevreden finalised the complaint on behalf of the SVB during a stopover in Panama, de Volkskrant reports.
The complaint concerns the behaviour of supporters in the stands. “It may come across badly because we lost, but I consider the result to be of secondary importance,” Tevreden says. “Concacaf and FIFA cannot continue to turn a blind eye to these kinds of practices. Home fans jeering at the opponent may be part of the sport, but it absolutely goes too far when it is done with monkey noises. Of course, a player must rise above it, but Margaret is also simply a human being with feelings. And what happens? The player is punished, our team is disadvantaged, while the perpetrators get away with it.”
Tevreden says that during the match he went from the bench to the Concacaf match commissioner several times to point out the racist behaviour in the stadium. “But he acted as though he heard absolutely nothing of all the noises.”
American referee Joe Dickerson crossed his arms during several stoppages in play, the signal to activate the anti-discrimination protocol. According to the reports, however, this did not lead to the follow-up steps required in the event of continuing racist expressions: a warning through the stadium public-address system, a temporary suspension and ultimately abandonment of the match.
According to Tevreden, the referee is not to blame in this case. He does, however, refer to an earlier experience with Dickerson during qualification for the Gold Cup in 2023. “He then refused to intervene after Kelvin Leerdam was repeatedly called negro on the field.”
With the official complaint, Tevreden wants to make clear that boundaries were crossed in Guatemala. In doing so, he criticises what he says was the lax conduct of the officials. “Those protocols exist for a reason. The international federations must stop sweeping this idiotic behaviour in the stands under the carpet. We experienced the same thing away in El Salvador last year. At the time, the Salvadoran federation got away with a fine of 60 thousand dollars. But that does not solve the problem, does it?”
It is not yet known when Concacaf will respond to the SVB’s complaint. According to de Volkskrant, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said through his spokesperson a day after the match that Suriname can count on the unconditional support of the world football federation. He also announced “deterrent measures” to eradicate racism and discrimination on and around the football field.
