More stories

  • in

    P.S.G.'s Aminata Diallo Arrested After Teammate Is Attacked

    A Paris St.-Germain women’s player was taken into custody by French investigators looking into a violent assault on a teammate who shares her position.The Paris St.-Germain players, champions of France and riding high on a surge of investment in women’s soccer, were in fine spirits as they enjoyed a dinner with club officials last week in a restaurant close to one of the city’s largest parks.Months removed from the squad’s first French title, regulars in Europe’s biggest tournaments and unbeaten in the new season, the team had much to celebrate, and the mood was collegial. As the night out wound down, one of the team’s new signings, Kheira Hamraoui, accepted a ride home from her teammate Aminata Diallo. Car-pooling made sense; both women lived in Chatou, an upscale suburb on the outskirts of Paris, and soon they and a third player were in the car for the half-hour drive home.As the car approached Hamraoui’s house around 10:30 p.m., however, the journey took a menacing turn. Two masked men emerged from the darkness and dragged Hamraoui out of the passenger seat. Then, according to news media reports later confirmed by the French police, the men beat Hamraoui with a metal bar for several minutes, paying particular attention to the part of the body she most needed to play for one of Europe’s most successful women’s soccer teams: her legs.When the beating ended, the men ran off. Diallo, who had been restrained, was apparently unharmed.By Wednesday, she was a suspect in the attack.Early Wednesday morning, the French police arrested the 26-year-old Diallo at her home nearby and confirmed in a statement that her detention was related to Hamraoui’s complaint, though they did not explicitly link Diallo to the assault, and refused to comment for the record. The French sports daily L’Equipe, which first reported the arrest, suggested Diallo may have played a role in the attack on Hamraoui, her rival for playing time in the center of the P.S.G. midfield.Even before then, though, the attack had been the talk of training facilities across Europe, where multimillion-dollar investments in women’s soccer have raised the profile of the sport, its best players and its biggest clubs. That has raised the stakes for players who now see the sport as a viable profession and a potential route to riches for the very best performers through six-figure annual contracts and growing sponsorship opportunities.Hamraoui at a P.S.G. training session in September. She missed a Champions League game on Tuesday because of injuries sustained in last week’s attack. Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG via Getty ImagesWhile the club hired additional security for Hamraoui’s worried teammates, the police investigation quietly gathered pace. On Wednesday, the arrest of Diallo shook everyone anew.“Paris St.-Germain is working with the Versailles police to clarify the facts,” the team said in a statement. “The club is paying close attention to the progress of the proceedings and will study what action to take.”Noël Le Graët, the president of the French soccer federation, expressed shock at the arrest of Diallo, who like Hamraoui has played for France’s national team. Diallo was in camp with the team as recently as last month, for a set of World Cup qualifiers. Hamraoui, a veteran of the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, last played for France in 2019, but her career had been revived by a Champions League title with Barcelona last season and an off-season move to P.S.G.“What is suspected is implausible,” Le Graët said. “I know both players. I am appalled if what is mentioned is true. It seems unimaginable.”The incident and the accusations of personal rivalry and professional jealousy immediately evoked memories of the 1994 assault on the figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, who was attacked at that year’s United States championships in a plot orchestrated by the ex-husband of a rival skater, Tonya Harding. Kerrigan was assaulted after a practice session by a man who hit her repeatedly in the legs with a police baton.After Kerrigan was forced to withdraw from the championships because of her injuries, Harding won the competition and earned a place on the 1994 U.S. Olympic team. Kerrigan was later named to the team as well, and several weeks later she won the silver medal at the Lillehammer Games. Harding, who has long denied being involved in the attack but pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution, finished eighth.The scandal was revived in 2017 with the release of a fictionalized biopic, “I, Tonya.”P.S.G., backed by the deep pockets of its Qatari owners, said Wednesday that it was continuing to provide its players with added security in the days since the attack, an extra layer of protection that it regularly arranges for its well-known men’s players. Several P.S.G. players have in recent years had their homes robbed — sometimes while family members were inside — while they were away playing matches.“Since Thursday evening the club has taken all necessary measures to guarantee the health, well-being and safety of its entire women’s team,” the P.S.G. statement added.For many in women’s soccer, though, the Hamraoui incident was hard to comprehend. The motivation did not appear to be robbery — the assailants had taken nothing from either of the women, the police said — but rather a single-minded effort to injure a player.Competition for places in the team’s lineup has increased this season after the women’s team finally ended the dominance of its league and continental rival Lyon by winning its first French title. P.S.G. had finished second to Lyon eight times in the previous 10 years. With a domestic title in hand, the team now has a European club title firmly in its sights.Signing Hamraoui, 31, from the European champion Barcelona for her second stint with the club was part of P.S.G.’s efforts to strengthen its team, and to defend its sudden primacy in its ongoing domestic rivalry with Lyon. Both teams have started the new campaign as strong as ever, with each having won its first seven games. P.S.G. has yet to surrender a goal in domestic or European competition.Diallo also returned to Paris this season, after a loan to Atlético Madrid, but has effectively been used as Hamraoui’s understudy. That changed this week when Hamraoui, badly shaken and nursing cuts and bruises — but no broken bones — was unable to play in a Champions League game against Real Madrid.At the time, the club explained her absence as a personal issue. Her replacement in the lineup on Tuesday? Diallo. More

  • in

    N.B.A. Fans Wanted a Show. They’re Also Getting a Reckoning.

    The entertainment of the playoffs has been coupled with a pressing message from players that fans have disrespected them for too long.Isaiah Thomas finally felt a conversation was in order.Thomas, a member of the Washington Wizards in 2019-20, was playing in Philadelphia against the 76ers. A fan had been cursing at him, while holding outstretched middle fingers from both of his hands.After it happened a third time, Thomas walked into the stands — calmly, he said — to talk to the fan.“I’m not going to go in there by myself, trying to raise havoc,” Thomas said. “But in my situation, I needed to say something to that man and let him know that that was not right.”The fan, Thomas said, quickly apologized, saying he was upset that a free throw Thomas had made prevented him from cashing in on a promotion for a free Frosty.“That means you don’t respect me as a human being,” Thomas said. “I think that’s why players are so upset now. It’s like: ‘Are you looking at us like human beings? As people? Or just somebody you’re coming to watch?’”The N.B.A., moving into the second round of the playoffs, has given fans plenty to watch, from the stunning play of Phoenix’s Devin Booker, the quick exit of the Los Angeles Lakers, and the aligning of the Nets’ stars to the battles of one-upmanship between Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Portland’s Damian Lillard.But the playoffs have also been defined by unruly fan behavior as N.B.A. arenas started opening to near capacity in time for the playoffs. The last time there were this many fans in arenas, it was before the N.B.A. was at the center of the protests for social justice and equality that roiled the country in the fall. Fans are returning to watch many of the same players — but the players are not the same. The message from athletes, especially those who are Black, is that they want to be respected.In New York, a fan spat on Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young. In Utah, the family of Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant was targeted with racist and lewd remarks while watching in the stands. In Boston, Nets guard Kyrie Irving had a water bottle hurled in his direction. In Philadelphia, a fan dumped popcorn on Washington’s Russell Westbrook as he left the floor after an injury.Knicks fans cheered before Game 1 in the first round of the 2021 N.B.A. playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks.Seth Wenig/USA Today Sports, via Reuters“What if he would’ve ran into the stands and put his hands on that fan?” Thomas said. “Everybody would’ve said he was wrong. But in any other setting in life, if I’m walking down the street and somebody pours popcorn on me, what do you think is going to happen?”In some ways, raucous behavior is another indicator of a return to prepandemic life. Sports is often a bellwether for society, and to a point, extreme behavior is ingrained in fandom — hence the term fanatic. As the country reopens, airlines are experiencing boisterous conduct and people are fighting in stands at baseball stadiums.In basketball, fans are stimulated by the charged atmosphere of the playoffs and some are spurred by liquid courage. The intimacy of the sport allows fans to be in proximity to players, and while players are in postseason form, security forces are not yet back in the rhythm of hosting this many fans for the first time in more than a year.“The fans are emboldened and lessen the value of these athletes as human beings when they engage with them in this way,” said David West, a retired forward who won two championships with Golden State.Emerging from the pandemic may have created a reckoning between N.B.A. fans and players. Some fans may have pent-up frustration from being isolated for so long. Kevin Durant, Irving’s Nets teammate, said pandemic quarantining had “got a lot of people on edge.” The incidents involve only a minuscule fraction of the thousands of fans who have returned to N.B.A. arenas. The egregiousness of the behaviors cannot be defined under a singular classification.But some travel beyond the traditional heckling of, say, Spike Lee at Madison Square Garden taunting an opposing player. They involve subtle and overt racism — “underlying racism and just treating people like they’re in a human zoo,” Irving said. And while the interactions are not new, the infractions are being documented through social media and arena cameras, and players seem more willing to speak out against them.“In general, it seems like this is what happens when people haven’t been outside for a year and a half,” said Louis Moore, an associate history professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. “Specifically, it’s part of who we are as fans. It’s fandom. It’s rowdyism. And then it’s even more specific when it looks like these N.B.A. incidents are targeted at Black athletes. That’s part of American sports.”Before Irving, a former Celtic, returned to Boston, he asked fans not to be belligerent or racist. Black athletes in multiple sports, including the Celtics legend Bill Russell, who once had someone break into his home and defecate on his bed, have spoken about the racism they’ve experienced in Boston. The treatment dates all the way back to George Dixon, who was the first Black man to win a boxing world title and fought in the United States during the post-Civil War era.The police in Boston arrested Cole Buckley, a 21-year-old from Braintree, Mass., on suspicion of throwing the water bottle toward Irving. Buckley pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.Buckley being arrested after the game.Elise Amendola/Associated Press“I’ve had situations so often throughout my career where we don’t really talk about it, because we want to be mentally tough,” Irving said after the incident. “We want to be tough-minded. We don’t want to be called soft or we’re not man enough to deal with boos.”As in Boston, opposing players have also spoken out against the treatment they’ve received in Utah. In 2019, two fans at Vivint Smart Home Arena were barred for using racist language toward Westbrook.“You felt this sense of angst that exists with some of the fans,” West said of playing in Utah, adding, “I just never let it affect me, but it also never got physical with me.”The fans involved in the first-round incidents were barred indefinitely from the arenas.“There is zero tolerance for inappropriate and disrespectful fan behavior at our games,” Commissioner Adam Silver of the N.B.A. said in an interview. “Fans engaging in acts like that in our arenas will be caught and banned from attending. The safety of players, officials and all attendees is our top priority, which is why we have worked diligently with our teams and law enforcement to increase security presence at our arenas throughout the remainder of the playoffs and will pursue all legal remedies against anyone who violates our fan code of conduct.”In Utah, the Jazz owner Ryan Smith provided Morant’s family with courtside seats for Game 5. Tee Morant, Ja’s father, praised the organization and Jazz players for their response, although his wife, Jamie, decided against returning to Salt Lake City.“It was a nice gesture from the Jazz,” Tee Morant told ESPN. “It was unfortunate. It was just a few fans — most of them were great and cheering right alongside with us.”Durant told reporters after the Irving incident that fans needed to “grow up” and treat players with respect. “These men are human,” he said, adding that players are not “animals” and “not in a circus.”In 2019, Thomas received a two-game suspension after the Frosty incident, and two fans — the one who had held up his middle fingers toward Thomas and another heckler — were barred from Wells Fargo Arena for a year.“The consequences, I don’t know what it should be,” Thomas said, “but I think it should be a little bit more so fans would think twice about what they do before they do it or what they say before they say it. But I don’t think the arena ban is scaring anybody off.”He continued: “I don’t have the answer to what they could possibly do. I know the N.B.A. is on top of everything for the players, but something’s got to change for sure.” More

  • in

    Chad Wheeler Charged With Felony Assault in Domestic Attack Case

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyChad Wheeler Charged With Felony Assault in Domestic Attack CaseThe N.F.L. lineman was arrested Saturday after a violent assault on a woman in his home.Chad Wheeler, 27, was arrested early Saturday morning on suspicion of felony domestic violence. He is facing two felony charges and one misdemeanor charge.Credit…Stephen Brashear/Associated PressJan. 28, 2021Updated 5:32 p.m. ETChad Wheeler, an N.F.L. offensive lineman who played five games with the Seattle Seahawks this season, is facing three criminal charges after his arrest last week on suspicion of felony domestic violence.Wheeler was released by the Seahawks on Wednesday, soon after prosecutors formally charged him with first-degree domestic violence assault, a felony; domestic violence unlawful imprisonment, a felony; and resisting arrest, a misdemeanor. In their charging papers, prosecutors in King County, Wash., said Wheeler “viciously attacked the victim” and choked her.Wheeler, 27, was arrested early Saturday morning and released from King County Jail on Tuesday after posting a $400,000 bond. Wheeler will be arraigned on Feb. 9 in Kent, Wash., where he lives. Prosecutors asked that Wheeler wear a GPS tracking device on his ankle.According to the prosecutor’s charging papers, Wheeler attacked his girlfriend in her bedroom, choking her at times with both hands until she lost consciousness. After she awoke, he choked her again until she became unconscious. She told the police that when she tried to roll away from Wheeler, he grabbed her left arm and ripped her body back toward him.When she awoke the second time, the woman told the police, Wheeler returned to the bedroom and said, “Oh, you’re still alive.” She then said she went into the bathroom, locked the door and sent text messages to her family, friends and Wheeler’s father, asking that they call 911. The woman also called 911 and told an operator she was being “killed.”When the police arrived, Wheeler refused to be detained. Unable to put him in handcuffs, officers used a Taser. According to the charging papers, Wheeler said, “I don’t beat women,” and yelled to the woman that he loved her.After the woman was taken to the hospital, doctors determined she had a fractured arm and a dislocated elbow. Her face was swollen in a way that doctors believed was the result of choking. The woman also had lesions on her neck, some in the shape of fingertips.According to prosecutors, Wheeler is 6 feet 7 inches and 310 pounds and the woman is 5-foot-9 and 145 pounds.The woman told the police she believed Wheeler had bipolar disorder and had not been taking his medication.The N.F.L. said it was reviewing the case. After the league completes its investigation, Wheeler could be suspended or fined, if he was found to have violated the league’s personal conduct policy. If Wheeler is signed by another team before the investigation is completed, the league could put him on the commissioner’s exempt list, which would prohibit him from taking the field until the league’s investigation is complete.“The Seahawks are saddened by the details emerging against Chad Wheeler and strongly condemn this act of domestic violence,” the team said in a statement Wednesday. “Our thoughts and support are with the victim.”On Wednesday, Wheeler apologized via social media for what he called “a manic episode” and said he was leaving football.“It is time for me to walk away from football and get the help I need to never again pose a threat to another,” he wrote on Twitter. “I cannot express my sorrow or remorse enough. I am truly ashamed.”Wheeler was set to be a free agent in March, but by waiving him now, the Seahawks have cut ties with him. Wheeler started 19 games with the Giants in the 2017 and 2018 seasons.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More