An Italian Rugby Federation tribunal
on Friday banned Benetton Treviso prop Ivan Nemer until the end
of June for a racist prank he played on teammate Cherif Traoré
last month, giving him a banana in the club's 'secret Santa'
exchange of Christmas presents.
Nemer, a 24-year-old who has 11 Italy caps, will also take part
in a racism-awareness programme as part of an agreement with
sporting prosecutors.
"Racism has no role in my life and it never will," said Nemer,
who was born in Argentina.
"I am sorry about the stupidity of my gesture. What happened
does not represent me".
Guinea-born forward Traoré, who has 15 Italy caps, published a
post about the incident on his Instagram account and he said the
worst thing was "seeing most of my team mates laugh... as if it
were all normal".
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