Vinicius Junior, known as Vinicius Jr, was named the winner of the Socrates Award on the night of the Ballon D’Or, an award event for football players who have extraordinary achievements on the gridiron. The name Socrates is taken from the name of a footballer from Brazil whose full name is Socrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira.
Apart from being a footballer, the player known as Socrates is also a doctor and newspaper columnist who continues to work and speak out for humanity. Socrates is a source of inspiration for footballers to have social responsibility in society. Real Madrid’s left wing striker is the second player to win the Socrates Award trophy after Sadio Mane when he was still in Liverpool uniform.
Sadio Mane and Vinicius are known not only as figures who are good at handling the ball on the field and scoring goals, but also because they care about social issues in their hometown. Sadio Mane built schools and hospitals to help poor people in Bambali, Senegal, while Vinicius built schools in Brazil.
The Socrates Award is an appropriate award for these two players because they are footballers who not only have achievements on the field but also have social responsibility in society. Vinicius Jr built an educational institution called Instituto Vini Jr when he was 19 years old and this year he has an extraordinary target of building 15 schools, 10,000 students involving 500 teachers.
For Vinicius, education can bring a transformation in the world so he invests his life in making an impact on the surrounding community. However, that is not the only reason Vinicius was crowned as the winner of the Socrates Award, Vinicius has demonstrated his actions many times in fighting racism on the gridiron.
Racism is one of the sensitive issues on the blue continent today, especially in the world of football. There are several players in the writer’s mind who have been victims of racism. There are Mario Balotelli, Evra, Ozil and Benzema. Lastly, Vinicius received racist treatment in the El Clasico match, although this has not been proven because it is still under investigation by the Barcelona team. Vinicius himself received repeated racist treatment in La Liga matches.
In particular, Real Madrid’s match against Valencia at Mestalla, Sunday, Vinicius dared to criticize football clubs in Spain and even the Spanish Football Federation was accused by Vinicius of normalizing racist actions in La Liga. “This is not the first time, not the second time, not the third time. Racism is normal in La Liga. In football, they think this is normal, so does the federation and opponents encourage it,” Vinicius wrote on his Instagram account.
This accusation became a hot topic in Spain because the President of La Liga thought Vinicius did not understand what they were doing to prevent acts of racism in Spanish Football. Vinicius is also considered to have made behavior that triggered racist actions in the form of racism from opposing fans.
“We have tried to explain to you what La Liga is and what can be done in terms of racism, but you did not appear even on the two agreed dates that you requested yourself,” Tebas wrote on his social media account as quoted by AS. Before criticizing and offending La Liga, you need to search for information properly. “Don’t let yourself be manipulated and make sure you understand the work we have done together,” said Javier Tebas
Apart from this debate, Vinicius’ courage in fighting racism deserves thumbs up. The author dubbed Vinicius Jr. as Martin Luther King Jr. on the gridiron. Martin Luther King Jr and Vinicius Jr had something in common, namely opposing racial discrimination, especially for black people.
In historical records, Martin Luther King Jr. really opposed racial discrimination against black people which resulted in him being imprisoned.
From Prison He wrote a letter stating that he felt called to raise a prophetic voice against the injustices that occurred in his time.
He also criticized people who were lulled into the current situation and were unable to break through the domination of white people in America.
Martin Luther King is known for his speech entitled “I Have A Dream” when he led the march to Washington, DC (28 August 1963).
This speech later made him famous and revered as the successor to Abraham Lincoln, who later became famous throughout the world and a Nobel Peace Prize awarded to him. Vinicius himself is known for his never-ending tweets on social media accounts which attract the attention of publications, especially football fans.
In fact, when accepting the award, Real Madrid’s number 7 player touched on the racism he often experiences. He felt annoyed because he was always asked about the racial harassment he received at every event.
“It’s very sad every time I have to come and talk about racism. I like discussing football. I like talking about the great players who are here and that (racism) is very sad,” said Vinicius Jr during his Socrates Award presentation speech.
Maybe Vinicius’ actions will stop racism in football? International football supports Vinicius to make that happen.
ASL
