A Spanish soccer team printed racial slurs on the back of their jerseys Sunday in an effort to take a stand against the abuse they receive while they play.
Alma de Africa plays in the Tercera Andaluza division and is made up of about a dozen players from foreign countries, as well as five Spanish players, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais. The team put several derogatory words on the back of their jerseys instead of their names for the first game of the season.
OLYMPIAN SOCCER PLAYER FOUND DEAD IN COLOMBIA DAYS AFTER BEING REPORTED MISSING
The names on the shirt included variations of the n-word, monkey or ape, slave, and illegal immigrants.
SOCCER REFEREE DIES AFTER COLLAPSING AT MATCH IN BOLIVIA
“I played with the word ‘Monkey’ on my back. We did it to tell everyone that we are not criminals. We are people and we are not bothering anybody. We still hear these insults and it hurts us, as well as the professional players,” Eric Joseu Amang, who is from Cameroon, said.
He added: “We want to be respected. We are in the 21st century and I don’t understand how they can still say these insults. We are fed up with being disrespected.”
The team members said that most of the racial abuse comes from opposing teams.
“Let’s see if together we can end this problem. It’s true that the trend is going down but it keeps happening and we wanted to draw people’s attention to it,” Alegandro Benitez, the club’s president, said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Alma de Africa finished last in their league last season.