Francesco Ricatti and Mauro Valeri: Super Mario - black, proud and a target for racists

Mario Balotelli is a star of the Italian football team but the racism directed at him by his countrymen has reached disturbing levels. Photo / AP

Mario Balotelli is already an international football star and could become one of Italy's greatest ever strikers. But is Italy ready to accept a black player as its next football hero?

Balotelli played a crucial role in Italy's qualification for the World Cup, and his goal proved decisive in Italy's first match of the finals, against England. But when Italy then played poorly and lost against Costa Rica, criticisms were immediately directed at "Super" Mario.

At the age of 23, he is already a big-game performer, having played in great teams such as Manchester City, Inter Milan and AC Milan. He has won four league championships and one European Champions League.

He should be celebrated and loved by Italians. Yet many find it difficult to reconcile his immense talent with his personal story, the colour of his skin and his insistence on being proudly Italian.

Balotelli was born in Sicily to Ghanaian parents who had migrated to Italy two years earlier. But under an anachronistic and unjust law, he acquired Italian citizenship only when he was 18. As a result he was not able to represent Italy at the 2008 Olympics.

Because of health problems as a child and the difficulties his parent faced in Italy, Balotelli was placed in foster care with an Italian family from the age of 3.

Growing up, he experienced the frequent discrimination suffered by black people in Italian society. And since his professional debut in 2006, he has often been subjected to racism.

Aged 17, Balotelli was the most talented young player in Serie A. The more he scored, the more opposition supporters hated him. Yet such negative emotions were not only about football - they also showed a level of racism many Italians still struggle to acknowledge.

Many involved in Italian football have strongly defended Balotelli, including Italy's coach Cesare Prandelli and star midfielder Andrea Pirlo.

Many others, though, have shown a worrying level of racism. A journalist on TV called Balotelli "negro di merda" (shit negro). In 2012, leading national newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport published a cartoon representing him as King Kong. Last year, Paolo Berlusconi, the brother of the former prime minister Silvio and vice-president of Balotelli's team AC Milan, referred to Balotelli as "il negretto di famiglia" (the family's little negro).

In most instances, Balotelli has responded to such abuse with maturity and restraint.

Today, Balotelli is certainly the most famous living black Italian. In 2013, he was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Only the whimsical, at times absurd, events of international football competitions will tell if Balotelli really is the great champion the Italian team needs him to be.

His triumphs will be used as emblems of successful integration, and his failures will reassure racists about their most stupid and abhorrent beliefs.

But all that should really matter is that he is a great Italian football player.

Francesco Ricatti lectures at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Mauro Valeri lectures at Sapienza University of Rome.

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