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Sao Paulo - A Panamanian player has hit out at Peru's soccer authorities for doing nothing to stop racism in the country after he walked off the pitch during a top-flight game after being subjected to abuse which he said was going unpunished.
Juan Aurich striker Luis Tejada booted the ball into the stands and left the field after 70 minutes of Sunday's game at Cienciano.
"I couldn't take it anymore and I only walked off after I kicked the ball away in protest and at the impotence I felt when I could see that no one was doing anything," Tejada said.
He was booked for kicking the ball away and some Cienciano players appealed to their own fans for restraint. Tejada refused to return and Cienciano won the match 2-0.
"I leave this in the hands of the authorities so they can do something to end this racism," Tejada wrote on his website.
"We're not advancing and it's the same thing over and over. For how long?"
The incident was the second involving Tejada in five months. Last October he was taunted while playing for Deportivo Universidad Cesar Vallejo against Sporting Cristal.
The problem of racism in football has become a serious issue in South America in recent years, with authorities in Peru and Brazil among those being urged to crack down on discrimination.
