DANIEL ALVES EATS BANANA THROWN AT HIM DURING A SOCCER MATCH

Racism has been a reoccurring issue in soccer for years and unfortunately another incident occurred on April 27 at a game between Barcelona and Villarreal when a banana was thrown at Daniel Alves.

The defender was going to take a corner during the match between Barcelona and Villarreal when a fan threw a banana that landed at his feet. He simply picked up the banana, peeled it, took a bite and continued to play.

Daniel Alves is not the first player to experience racist taunting during a competition but he is one of the first to respond with humor.  When he saw the banana, he treated it as if it were a snack.

Shortly after the banana incident, Alves launched a cross that Mateo Musacchio headed into his own goal before Lionel Messi scored Barcelona's winner.

After the match he said that humor is the best way to combat racism in sports.

"We have suffered this in Spain for some time," Alves said. If you don't give it importance, they won't achieve their objective."

The episode spread worldwide. Barcelona and Villarreal have already manifested against it. Stars and athletes have posted photos with bananas showing the player their support and condemning racist acts.

Manchester City Argentine attacker Sergio Agüero tweeted "We say no to racism. We are all equal". He posted a picture eating a banana together with Brazilian player Marta.

Talisca Reis, Brazilian taekwondo fighter, has also joined the movement posting a photo holding a banana. "Say no to prejudice", she wrote.

Among celebrities, the singer Alexandre Pires posted a picture of himself eating the fruit: "Here's the banana!! #SOMOSTODOSMACACOS". TV hosts Luciano Huck and Angélica also mentioned the incident on Facebook.

Fifa released an official statement condemning the episode and assured the upcoming World Cup will be a good opportunity to reinforce the war against racism.

"Fifa condemns any type of discrimination and it is sad to see such racist incidents continue to occur in football. We keep asking the football community to unite and to use their voces to eradicate racism from football and society".

"The 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil will be the perfect occasion to send a clear message to the world: football is for all and we will not tolerate any form of discrimination", said the entity.

ORPHANED LAND - A BAND FROM ISRAEL

Orphaned Land is a progressive metal band from Israel, formed in 1991 under the name Resurrection (changing their name in 1992 to the current name), that combines Jewish and Arabian influences. The band has gone through several changes over the years, but has retained two of the founding members, Kobi Farhi (vocals) and Uri Zelcha (bass). They are joined by Matan Shmuely (drums) as well as Chen Balbus (guitar/keyboard), who replaced the founding member, Matti Svatizky in 2012. Co-Founding member Yossi Sassi (guitars/strings) left the band in early 2014. Their lyrics promote a message of peace and unity, particularly between the three main Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

In 1992, the band changed its name from the original Resurrection to Orphaned Land. Orphaned Land fuse progressive and death metal as well as Middle-Eastern folk music and Arabic traditions in a form of Oriental metal. Each album has some concept related to two extreme: a meeting of East and West, past and present, light and darkness, and God and Satan.

The band’s first album was Sahara (1994) which was originally released as a demo. The second album, El Norra Alila (1996), had many Eastern/Oriental influences, such as "El Norra Alila" ("Illustrious God"), based on a poem sung during Yom Kippur as a plea of forgiveness. It also included songs with traditional oriental Jewish piyyut and Arabic melodies. The album explored the themes of light and darkness, as well as conveying the message of commonality between the three Abrahamic religions.

In 2008, Orphaned Land was featured in the documentary Global Metal, a film by the creators of Metal: A Headbanger's Journey.

On May 22, 2010, Orphaned Land performed as the opening act to Metallica's show in Israel. Following this, the band went on a festival tour in the summer of 2010, promoting their latest album, The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR, with appearances at such festivals as Wacken Open Air, Summer Breeze Open Air, Sonisphere Festival, Gods of Metal, Rock Hard Festival and more.  

On June 11, 2012, guitarist Matty Svatitzky announced his departure from the band, due to personal issues. Matti Svatitzky was replaced by Chen Balbus, a young musician who was a replacement guitar player for some live shows, before he became an official member. Chen instantly became an integral part of the composing, writing, producing and recording of the new album, "All Is One.

In 2012 there was an online petition for Orphaned Land to be awarded a Nobel Prize for their commitment to allowing the Arab World to listen to their music despite bans on such a thing from Arab League countries.

                                                                                    Adapted from www.wikipedia.com by Milton França

If you don´t know the band, take a look at these videos: