Mary Fowler, in her memoir Bloom, alleges that during her time at Montpellier in 2022 she and a Black teammate received bananas from a teammate instead of flowers during a farewell presentation — which she interpreted as a racist act.
- "Some of our teammates questioned why we hadn’t received any flowers ... one of the other players came over and handed my friend and me some bananas, saying, ‘here have these’ …" Mary Fowler on her last home game at French club Montpellier in her book.
- She also claims that club medical staff dismissed her reports of chest pain, refusing proper examination, which made her feel undervalued and marginalized.
- Montpellier has strongly denied Fowler’s allegations, calling the claims “particularly serious” and asserting that there is no evidence to support her account.
- The club explains that only certain players (whose contracts were ending) were given flowers after the last home game — Fowler and her teammate were still under contract, so they say a “farewell gift” would have been inappropriate.
- Regarding the banana incident, Montpellier states that after consulting with everyone present, no one corroborated Fowler’s version or identified who might have handed her the bananas.
