Soccer-Jeonbuk assistant coach Taricco suspended for racist gesture

Taricco, a former Tottenham Hotspur player, was sent off after arguing with the referee while appealing for a penalty during the match against Daejeon Hana Citizen. The 52-year-old then screamed the word "racista", the Spanish word for racist, at the referee before making a slanted-eye gesture, the K-League said in a statement.

South Korean top-flight K-League's disciplinary committee on Wednesday suspended Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors assistant coach Mauricio Taricco for five matches over the Argentine making a racist gesture during a match on November 8. Taricco, a former Tottenham Hotspur player, was sent off after arguing with the referee while appealing for a penalty during the match against Daejeon Hana Citizen.

The 52-year-old then screamed the word "racista", the Spanish word for racist, at the referee before making a slanted-eye gesture, the K-League said in a statement. Taricco, in a statement to the committee, had said that he pointed to his eyes to indicate that the referee had not directly observed a handball.

"The disciplinary committee stated that 'the evaluation of a specific act should be based on the universal meaning of the act as expressed, rather than the perpetrator's stated intentions,'" the K-League said. "Based on these criteria, coach Taricco's actions were identical to the widely known "slant-eye" derogatory gesture against Asians and sufficiently inflicted feelings of racial insult on the recipient."

Taricco was also fined 20 million won ($13,643). ($1 = 1,465.8500 won)