They made monkey noises and it's not the first time
On a Saturday afternoon in Udine, AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan walked off the pitch in protest after enduring persistent monkey chants — a quiet, gloved refusal that briefly emptied the field and sent a question echoing through Italian football: how many times must a man be made to feel less than human before the game itself stops? The disciplinary response was swift — a closed-doors sanction for Udinese, a five-year stadium ban for the primary suspect — but the swiftness of punishment cannot fully answer the slowness of progress. What lingers is not the incident alone, but Maignan's weary admission that this was not the first time, and the uncomfortable possibility that it will not be the last.
- Maignan removed his gloves mid-match and walked toward the tunnel after monkey chants persisted even following an official stadium announcement to stop — his teammates followed without hesitation, leaving the pitch empty for ten minutes.
- The abuse came from a 46-year-old man already known to police as a criminal in the Udine province, suggesting the stadium had failed to screen out a known bad actor.
- Italian football's disciplinary machinery moved quickly: Udinese were ordered to play their next match behind closed doors, and the primary suspect received a five-year nationwide stadium ban plus a lifetime exclusion from Udinese's ground.
- Police are now combing CCTV footage and social media to identify additional perpetrators, signaling that authorities believe the abuse was not confined to a single voice.
- Maignan's own words — 'it's not the first time it's happened to me' — reframe the incident from isolated outrage to documented pattern, casting doubt on whether individual bans can resolve a systemic failure.
Mike Maignan heard the chanting during the second half — monkey noises, unmistakable and deliberate. He had already reported the abuse to referee Fabio Maresca earlier in the match. An announcement had been made. The crowd had been asked to stop. It didn't. So Maignan removed his gloves and walked toward the tunnel. His teammates followed without hesitation, and for roughly ten minutes, the pitch at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine sat empty.
The disciplinary response came quickly. Udinese were ordered to play their next match behind closed doors — a sanction designed to sting both in atmosphere and revenue. The heaviest personal consequence fell on a 46-year-old man identified as the primary abuser: a five-year ban from every football stadium in Italy, plus a lifetime exclusion from Udinese's own ground. He was already known to police in the province as a criminal.
Speaking after the match, Maignan — born in French Guiana, raised in Paris, and a French international — described the abuse with a weariness that carried more weight than outrage. 'They made monkey noises and it's not the first time it's happened to me,' he said. He had tried the official channels. They had not been enough. Walking off was the only protest left available to him.
Investigators are not finished. Police are reviewing CCTV footage and monitoring social media in search of additional perpetrators, and Udinese have pledged to assist in identifying anyone else involved. Yet the question that Maignan's words leave hanging is whether any of it will be enough — whether punishing one man, or one club, can address what a goalkeeper's exhausted repetition suggests is something far more entrenched.
Mike Maignan heard it during the second half on Saturday—the sound cutting through the noise of the stadium, unmistakable and deliberate. The AC Milan goalkeeper, standing in his box at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine, had already reported monkey chants to referee Fabio Maresca earlier in the match. An announcement had been made. The crowd had been asked to stop. But the abuse continued, and this time Maignan had seen enough. He removed his gloves, turned toward the tunnel, and walked. His teammates followed without hesitation. For roughly ten minutes, the pitch sat empty. Play was suspended. The message was clear.
What happened next moved swiftly through Italian football's disciplinary machinery. Udinese, the home club, was ordered to play their next match behind closed doors—a sanction that strips a stadium of its atmosphere and its revenue, a punishment meant to sting. But the consequences fell heaviest on one man: a 46-year-old suspected of being the primary voice behind the racist chanting. He was banned from every football stadium in Italy for five years. Additionally, Udinese imposed a lifetime ban from their own ground. The man was already known to police in the province of Udine as a criminal, according to Sky News's understanding of the case.
Maignan, 28, was born in French Guiana but grew up in Paris and represents France at international level. After the match, he spoke to DAZN with a weariness that suggested this was not new territory. "They made monkey noises and it's not the first time it's happened to me," he said. The repetition in his words carried weight—not shock, but exhaustion. He had confronted the referee. He had tried the official channels. The abuse had persisted anyway, forcing him to take the only action left available: to refuse to play.
The Udine Public Prosecutor's office, which issued the five-year stadium ban, made clear that individual accountability mattered. But Udinese's institutional punishment—the closed-doors match—reflected a different principle: that clubs bear responsibility for the environment they create and fail to police. The club itself vowed to identify anyone else involved in the abuse, signaling that investigators were not finished. Police were reviewing CCTV footage and monitoring social media, looking for additional perpetrators.
What remains unresolved is whether these measures will actually deter future incidents. Maignan's statement that this was not his first experience with monkey chants at Italian grounds suggests a pattern. The five-year ban and lifetime stadium exclusion are severe, but they apply to one man. The question hanging over Italian football is whether isolated punishments can address what appears to be a recurring problem—one that has now forced a goalkeeper to walk off the pitch and his entire team to follow him into the tunnel.
Notable Quotes
They made monkey noises and it's not the first time it's happened to me— Mike Maignan, AC Milan goalkeeper, speaking to DAZN after the match
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did Maignan walk off? Couldn't he have just ignored it?
He reported it to the referee. An announcement was made. The abuse continued anyway. At some point, staying on the pitch becomes complicity—accepting that this is just part of the job. He chose not to accept that.
Is a five-year ban enough?
It's severe in isolation. But Maignan said this wasn't the first time. One man banned for five years doesn't change the fact that someone else will likely do the same thing next season.
Why does Udinese get punished if they didn't do the abuse?
Because the club is responsible for the conduct of its supporters. A closed-doors match hits them financially and competitively. It's meant to create pressure on the club to actually police their own crowd.
Did the other players have to walk off, or did they choose to?
They chose to. That's significant. It wasn't just Maignan making a statement—it was the entire team saying we're not playing under these conditions.
What happens now?
Police are looking at video and social media to find others who were involved. But the real question is whether this changes anything structurally, or if it's just punishment after the fact.