Chelsea must make example of Enzo Fernandez following Instagram video of racist song

It really does say something when Marc Cucurella can spend three days solid jumping on dining tables and hijacking microphones to garble and mime his way through that infernal song about paella, Estrella, and Erling Haaland, and it still somehow not be the worst way that a Chelsea player has celebrated winning a major international tournament this week.

Before the advent of social media, it was really difficult to be racist to more than just a handful of people at a time. Now, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, all it takes is a poke of a finger (and a stunning knack for prejudicial patterns of thought) and you can broadcast your bigotry, live and in smooth high definition, to the entire world. What a time to be alive. Just ask Enzo Fernandez.

On Sunday night, Argentina won a third consecutive piece of silverware, and a second successive Copa America, by beating Colombia 1-0 in Miami. It was a feisty affair marred by Lionel Messi’s ballooning ankle (think ‘Eddie Murphy/Nutty Professor prosthetics’ level of swelling) and fan trouble around the turnstiles of the Hard Rock Stadium. After the final whistle, Fernandez left said stadium, got on the team coach, hit record, and promptly landed himself firmly between a rock and a hard place.

The midfielder and several of his compatriots can be seen - and indeed, heard - revelling in a chant that mocks the French national team for the ancestral heritage of several of their players. For the sake of not perpetuating warped bile any further, all you really need to know is that Fernandez and a few of his teammates (by no means all; the aforementioned Messi was very quick to post his alibi to Instagram - he was eating pasta and hot dogs with his son) were heavily implying that those members of Didier Deschamps’ squad who are of African descent should not be regarded as truly French.

Now, call me old fashioned, but if I had just won a trophy - let alone a third major international one on the spin - the last thing I would be concerning myself with is the finer details of Eduardo Camavinga’s birth certificate. I doubt you would be either. In fact, silverware or not, why anybody might care enough about another person’s lineage to take to the internet and comment on it is genuinely quite baffling. It is hard to tell if it is sad, pathetic, ridiculous, or all three in equal measure.

In response to the footage, the French Football Federation have filed a legal complaint with both its Argentinian counterpart and FIFA over the use of ‘racist and discriminatory remarks’. Good. As they should.

For Fernandez himself, however, the trouble might only just be beginning. Alongside the internal investigation that Chelsea have launched into his behaviour, a number of his teammates have unfollowed him on social media, including Malo Gusto, Axel Disasi, and Wesley Fofana. The latter even went as far as to describe the incident as ‘uninhibited racism’, and there are reports that the Blues’ notable French contingent is ‘furious’ with the South American.

In a desperate bid to salvage the last snot-soaked tatters of his credibility, Fernandez took to Instragram once again, writing: ‘I want to apologise sincerely for a video posted on my Instagram channel during the national team celebrations. The song includes highly offensive language and there is absolutely no excuse for these words. I stand against discrimination in all forms and apologise for getting caught up in the euphoria of our Copa America celebrations. That video, that moment, those words, do not reflect my beliefs or my character. I am truly sorry.’ Turns out, by the way, that nothing devalues an apology quite like writing it out in Comic Sans. Well, that and it being unreservedly gossamer-thin in its conviction.

Because the thing is, whatever Fernandez maintains that his intentions and the readings on his moral compass are and were, the fact of the matter is that he still saw no problem with saying what he said and espousing it to his 11,000,000 followers. Then again, that count could halve if the rest of the Stamford Bridge dressing room join Fofana et al. in disavowing him.

Once more, we are concluding another tournament with uncomfortable discourse about racism in the professional game, with pile-ons against black players who dare to speak out against the hate that is being directed their way, and with the grim, entrenched feeling that nothing will change any time soon. If it wasn’t so damaging, it would be dull.

Like a mangy dog chasing its tail, the conversation spins in frantic circles with no real hope of a meaningful resolution, while those who could make an actual profound difference continue to do their best impressions of ostriches in a sandpit. And if you really want to know how slowly we are addressing racism in football, that last sentence was lifted verbatim from an article I wrote almost three years ago after Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham were subjected to abuse during a World Cup qualifier against Hungary whilst away on England duty. Nothing is getting better, and the casual ease with which Fernandez felt he was able to post his video, bleach-whitened grin plastered across his face, is just the latest illustration in a long, miserable trail of evidence.

He should, therefore, be made an example of, as should every other player who sang along with him on that coach - as should every other player, fan, manager, or pundit who commits similar misdemeanours. Racism has no place in football, and the only way we stand even half a chance of getting rid of it is to stamp it out. A Comic Sans apology is simply not enough.