Son Heung-min’s best friend Ben Davies expressed his thoughts on being disciplined for Rodrigo Bentancur’s racist remarks against Son Heung-min.
“Davis is the first Tottenham player to express his view on Bentancourt’s seven-game ban,” England’s “Football London” said on the 19th (Korea Standard Time).
Earlier, the English Football Association (FA) decided to indict Bentancourt for his racist remarks, and the disciplinary action was confirmed. The Athletic reported on the 18th that “FA announced Bentancourt’s remarks against his teammate Son Heung-min and banned him from playing in seven games.”
The level of disciplinary action was also known. “The FA-designated rule E3.1 stipulates that athletes should not use ‘insulting words’ and the ‘grave violations’ defined in E3.2 include statements of ‘race, skin color, race, and nationality’. The three-member regulatory committee held a meeting on the 12th and ruled that Bentancourt violated rule E3.1 and was an aggravated violation,” The Athletic said.
“The committee unanimously decided that Bentancourt should be banned from seven games in Korea, fined 100,000 pounds and participated in a face-to-face education program.” Bentancourt will be banned from seven games and fined.
Bentancur caused controversy over racial discrimination in June. At that time, he appeared on the Uruguayan TV media “For La Camisetta.” The co-star said, “Please take care of the uniform of the Korean player.” Bentancur asked back, “Sonny (Son Heung-min).” Then, he joked, “Why don’t you bring me your cousin’s uniform? They all look the same,” and laughed with the host.
It was a racial discrimination against Son and Asians. Saying that Asians all look similar is considered a common racist remark against Asians. Since then, the remarks have grown bigger. Various media outlets including the BBC shed light on Bentancourt’s racist remarks, and the Times predicted that Bentancourt’s remarks could be disciplined by the FA.
Bentancur posted an apology on his personal social media shortly after the controversy. He wrote, “My brother Sonny! I apologize for this happening. It was a very bad joke. You know I love you I will never ignore you, or hurt anyone else. I love you bro.”
However, as the post disappeared after 24 hours, the anger of soccer fans did not fade. Eventually, about five days later, Son Heung-min posted on his SNS account, “I talked with Bentancourt. He made the mistake. He was aware of it and apologized. He never made such an aggressive remark intentionally. “We are brothers, nothing has changed. It is a long time ago. We will unite as one for the team during the pre-season,” he said.
Tottenham also opened its mouth through its official channel, but showed a passive attitude, saying it would conduct “education” on racism without any disciplinary action. Coach Enze Postecoglou also declined to say when asked about Bentancourt during the pre-season, saying it was already over and that he would follow Son Heung-min’s position.
After Bentancourt was officially charged in September, Son Heung-min mentioned Bentancourt again. He said, “I love him. We shared a lot of good memories. Bentancourt apologized to me right away. I was on vacation at the time, and I didn’t even know what had happened. Bentancourt sent me a long message, and I could see that he was making a sincere apology.”
“He saw me in training afterwards and almost cried. I was really sorry. We are all human and make mistakes. I love him and we are moving forward together as brothers. This is all I can say because we have to wait for the FA to proceed,” he said.
Bentancourt has reportedly denied the charges against him. A reporter with knowledge of Tottenham’s news, Alessdare Gold, disclosed Bentancourt’s answer to the FA and 야옹이. He expressed regret over the comment that the host who appeared with him on the show described Son Heung-min as a “Korean” in question. He then claimed that he was “surprised and uncomfortable” that the host used such terms.
Tottenham’s opinion sent on behalf of Bentancourt said, “Bentancourt was intended to scold the host in a light and joking manner for using completely inappropriate generalization.” At the same time, he explained that Bentancourt tried to gently scold Son by saying back that he called Son Heung-min a Korean.
He also said that he had reasonable expectations for privacy protection and for the media to edit and broadcast the contents well, as the conversation between Bentancourt and the host took place privately at his home. Bentancourt said she was not authorized to edit and that she was surprised at the media’s decision to publish the remarks as they were. Despite the allegations, however, the FA decided to discipline her, acknowledging that the remarks were racist from an objective perspective.
Bentancourt’s disciplinary action is a negative factor for Tottenham. Since Tottenham can play in the European competition, it can play its Europa League schedule, but cannot play in Premier League and English Football League Cup games. Starting with Manchester City, they will meet Fulham, Bournemouth and Chelsea in turn, and await Southampton, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Tottenham currently ranks 10th in the league with five wins, one draw and five losses, which needs a solid rebound.
Against this backdrop, Son Heung-min and Davis, who are best friends with Tottenham, were asked about Bentancur’s disciplinary action. Attending a press conference ahead of the Nations League match between Wales and Iceland, he said, “I read the news this morning. Maybe it was like everyone else. I thought Tottenham handled it internally, but now I think it was handled externally.”