Rugby Benetton: After the banana in Traoré, Nemer was disqualified for 6 months

Benetton and Italrugby prop master Ivan Nemer has been disqualified by the Federal Court until June 30, 2023 after being involved as the author of a very tasteless ‘gift’ to teammate Cherif Traoré at the Benetton team’s dinner last Christmas. The case dates back to December 20, when Traoré found himself in front of a rotten banana during a secret Santa among Benetton players (a custom that consists of exchanging gifts without knowing each one’s sender). A gesture that caused immense displeasure in the green-white and international, which led to him telling everything on social media. The originator of the gift was not immediately revealed, and in fact it has never been officially explained to this day, even if the rumors had led to Ivan Nemer within a day and nobody had ever denied them, at Benetton he had limited himself to stating this the player as “unavailable” in the announcements of the weekly formations.

The measure

—

The Italian-Argentine propsman, who has 11 appearances for the Azzurri and 41 for Benetton, will not enter the field until the end of the season and will automatically skip the entire Six Nations, which begins next week. In addition, the provision stipulates that the player takes an active part in the Italian Rugby Union’s migrant project and attends a training and awareness course on integration issues at an independent body. The future involvement of the athlete in international activities will depend on the success of this path, the FIR reports. After all, both World Rugby (the world governing body of oval ball) and the URC (the international tournament in which Benetton plays) immediately asked for clarification on the matter.

Nemer

—

As Nemer himself said, this disqualification will be an opportunity to reflect further and become a better person: “What happened doesn’t represent me, but at the same time it must make me and us think about how much more needs to be done changing our culture, overcoming the most vulgar clichés, coming closer than is already happening. I accept the disqualification and the reintegration process with serenity, but above all I trust that in the months and years to come I can use my testimony to help raise awareness among more and more young rugby players of issues that need to be addressed and understood, not just to improve our sport, but the world we live in,” the Blues declared at the end of the federal process of each of us,” Nemer added: “I am deeply sorry for what happened, for the stupidity of my gesture, for the upset a friend has caused, for causing harm to my team, my teammates, the country I represent and the game I love I come from a multicultural country like Argentina where cultures have changed since for over a century, and I’ve always shared the dressing room and pitch with teammates and friends from around the world.”