Dante Vanzeir, a forward for the New York Red Bulls, said sorry after he used a racist remark during his team’s match against San Jones Earthquakes. On Tuesday, Dante, New York Red Bulls and its manager Gerhard Struber all issued apologies. Dante promised to accept whatever punishment the league hands down – ranging from suspension, fines and counseling.
“I want to apologize for my behaviour and be part of the change that needs to happen. I made a mistake, but I’m committed to learning from it. I take full responsibility for what I said and did, even though I didn’t mean to cause any harm or trouble. I’m deeply sorry.”
The MLS is looking into Jeremy Ebobise’s claims that a Red Bulls player said something racist during the second-half of Saturday’s game. He didn’t say who it was. During the same half, Jeremy reacted angrily to Vanzeir and then the two players got in a fight which made the referee pause the game for about 15 minutes.
Ebobisse said San Jose’s players thought about leaving the field, but they decided not to because the player who had used an inappropriate word didn’t mean it for any of them.
Vanzeir continued playing until he was taken out in the 86th minute. He had just joined Red Bulls from a Belgian team named Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.
His manager Struber felt bad and said he should have taken him out earlier.
“At first, I thought I had made the best choice with the information I had”, he said. “But even with more facts on hand now, it’s clear that the right thing to do was to take Dante Vanzeir out of the game straight away.” The Red Bulls stated that these actions and lack thereof were unacceptable.
The New York Red Bulls feel really bad about what happened during the game against the San Jose Earthquakes last Saturday. We want everyone to be included and not get hurt because of their race. We promise to try our best and work hard to help our players and staff learn more, and also strive to fix relationships with everyone in our community.
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