Eymael denies being a racist, says he was quoted out of context
Former Free State Stars coach Luc Eymael, who is embroiled in a racism scandal after comparing supporters of his Tanzanian club, Yanga FC to "monkeys and dogs" and was fired by Yanga on Monday, says his sentiments were misconstrued.
Luc Eymael
Eymael shot to prominence in South Africa after taking unfancied Free State Stars to a Nedbank Cup championship two years ago. But he left the country I a huff after an unsuccessful stint at Black Leopards.
Yanga released a statemen on Monday morning announcing his dismissal after guiding the club to second place in the Tanzanian league, citing his alleged racist slur as the reason.
Speaking to SAFM on Monday afternoon, Eymael said he hadn’t been notified of his firing yet and was with the team in their bus.
“I have seen the statement, but it is in Swahili and until now I have not received anything from the club. Even now, I am on the team bus. But maybe that will be the case (that I will be fired). But what they are doing is tarnishing my name, I don’t appreciate that,” he said.
#SAFMSportOn -We have managed to find the original clip of Luc Eymael's comments…He's also sent us a voicenote to give his side of the story…His club Young Africans will also talk about his sacking …ODG on the return of the league.. @SAfmRadio 7-8pm pic.twitter.com/8y4e74jR8F
— Tracksuit (@ThabisoMosia) July 27, 2020
Eymael has also posted a video of himself celebrating with Yanga players after Sunday’s game and doing he kneeling which symbolizes support for the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
“Now my name is all over Africa, it is very sad because I have worked for 10 years in Africa. How can I be a racist? How can I work in South Africa and be a racist? They took my words out of context. It is unfortunate. Everyone knows that I am not racist,” added Eymael.
" I jump in people's arms and even in South Africa I was hugging people. How can I be racist"… Luc Eymael just sent us this video of him 'taking the knee', to 'prove' that he's not racist.. It was Yanga's last match yesterday, a win, which saw them finish 2nd @SAfmRadio pic.twitter.com/SZmr2Ltvzo
— Tracksuit (@ThabisoMosia) July 27, 2020
While in South Africa, Eymael had a run-in with then Kaizer Chiefs coach Steve Komphela when he publicly made himself available for the Amakhosi job after rumours that he was in line for the Naturena hot seat made headlines.
Komphela went as far as urging local clubs to never hire Eymael, who he described as disrespectful and bad for South African football.
