Nathan-Wounembaina
It was the first set of the match in Piraeus when Olympiacos fans shouted monkey screams each time Nathan Wounembaina from Tours VB touched the ball. So, at 24-24, the Cameroonian player could not withstand it anymore and spoke to the referee from Bulgaria, Milan Todorov, urging him to stop the match. Since the umpire did not want to make such a call, Wounembaina left the court on his own and received the red card that will sideline him from the rematch in two weeks.
Tours and the French Volleyball Federation (FFV) were appalled with this incident and while the club itself did not issue a statement regarding the case of racism, the FFV did.
„In the CEV Challenge Cup match Olympiacos vs. Tours VB, which was played last night in Greece, Tours player Nathan Wounembaina suffered racist abuse by some of the fans from the Greek club. This unacceptable situation has caused him to voluntarily leave the floor which was followed by the referee’s decision to expel him. In terms of the sports rules violation that the club suffered and the attacks on the player’s personality, the French Volleyball Federation (FFV) and the French Volleyball League (NLV) have started a procedure to appeal to the Disciplinary Committee of the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) to punish this in accordance with its regulations,“ the FFV published and added that the French Minister of Sports Laura Flessel was informed of the incident while Eric Tanguy, the FFV President, and Alain Griguer, the LNV President, gave their support to Wounembaina.
Tours put Wounembaina photo as their profile picture on every social network account with the sign #SayNoToRacism.
See the video of Wounembaina protesting to the referees at the end of the match…
