Mario Balotelli, right, was seen gesturing to the crowd while talking to referee Nicolas Rainville before being cautioned for his actions. Philippe Desmazes / AFP
Mario Balotelli, right, was seen gesturing to the crowd while talking to referee Nicolas Rainville before being cautioned for his actions. Philippe Desmazes / AFP
Mario Balotelli, right, was seen gesturing to the crowd while talking to referee Nicolas Rainville before being cautioned for his actions. Philippe Desmazes / AFP
Mario Balotelli, right, was seen gesturing to the crowd while talking to referee Nicolas Rainville before being cautioned for his actions. Philippe Desmazes / AFP

Football

Mario Balotelli booking for calling out racist spectators 'unacceptable and wrong'

Kick It Out releases statement expressing shock to see 27-year-old player receive booking for trying to inform official about chanting he believes was racist

Press Association

February 12, 2018

  • English
  • Arabic

Mario Balotelli's booking for complaining about alleged racist chanting during Nice's defeat at Dijon on Saturday has been described as "unacceptable and wrong" by anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out.

The former Manchester City, Liverpool and Italy striker was seen gesturing to the crowd while talking to referee Nicolas Rainville during the second half of the Ligue 1 match only to then be cautioned for his actions.

Nice later tweeted a picture of Rainville booking Balotelli with a caption that said he was given the yellow card for "getting annoyed with racist insults from the public".

In a statement, Kick It Out said it was "shocked" to see the 27-year-old player receive a booking for trying to inform an official about chanting he believes was racist.

"It is unacceptable and wrong to see that once again, a match official has failed to apply the Uefa protocol - in place for a number of years - which requires action to be taken to stop the game to deal with the offending abuse.

"Although Kick It Out's remit is within English football, the organisation has contacted anti-discrimination network Football Against Racism in Europe to see what actions they will be taking in raising this with Ligue 1 officials.

"The organisation expects a strong response from the French football authorities in condemning both the alleged racist chanting from Dijon supporters and the failure of the referee to follow protocol to halt the behaviour, as well as the decision to compound Balotelli's experience as a victim by booking him for merely asking the match official to do his job."

Nice were 2-1 ahead at the time of the incident but conceded two late goals, including a controversial penalty, to lose 3-2, dropping them to eighth in the Ligue 1 table.

Nice president Jean-Pierre Rivere hit out at the standard of refereeing, telling the club's official website: "I am scandalised. It's been four consecutive games that we have the feeling of playing at 11 against 12."

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

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The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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