Uefa has confirmed there were “isolated incidents of racist chanting” aimed at Netherlands players during an open training session.
But the governing body has not revealed whether it is investigating the incident in Krakow, Poland.
Dutch captain Mark van Bommel said monkey chants were directed at players.
…
While Van Bommel complained specifically of racist abuse, the Dutch FA had earlier said this was mixed with anti-Euro 2012 chanting believed to have been prompted by the fact the city has not been given any matches in the tournament.
When this was put to Van Bommel on Thursday, he said: “Open your ears. If you did hear it and don’t want to hear it, that is even worse.”
Yes sounds familiar. “Oh that’s not racism, that’s just me hating you. Totally different thing. The fact that I use racist words or chants or sounds is neither here nor there.”
I don’t think the tournament should have been given to Poland and Ukraine.
Michel Platini (UEFA president) also said earlier in the week any player walking off due to racist abuse will be booked… although he also said referees can stop games if the racism gets out of hand.
For what it’s worth I think a lot of the locals have been priced out of the games so in the stadiums themselves racism isn’t going to be a major problem. Just in the streets, on the training grounds, by the hotels…
If the racism gets out of hand? So if it’s just non-out of hand racism they have to put up with it?
Well that’s a crock.
Exactly. And it’s up to the referee to decide what/when that threshold is reached. It’s not up to the victims*, who have been warned via the press that they will be punished for unilateral action with a yellow card.
European football, in general, does not take racism seriously. There are some exceptions. In the UK, for example, racism is largely (but NOT completely) eliminated from the stadiums and the streets around them, and there is generally a level of consciousness that has fans self-policing what incidents there are. In other countries you will hear monkey chants as a matter of course. Within recent memory – I think around three years ago – the coach of Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia openly admitted that he wouldn’t sign a black player because he knew the fans would go crazy.
Racism is football’s shame and there is so, so much further left to go to fix that.
*unless the victim is the referee, which, among top-level UEFA referees, is very unlikely to happen often, if at all.
I should add, when I say “other countries” I do not mean ALL other European countries. But sadly I’d say it’s a lot of them.
And it’s not just racism, either. Anti-semitism is rife. Homophobia, too. (Well into my teens I didn’t see a problem with singing “Player X, he’s a poof” or similar on the terraces in Scotland, where I grew up. It’s *largely* dying out now but not entirely.)
UEFA has not shown itself to be especially tough on racism in the past. True it does fine clubs who’s supporters racially abuse players, but the fines are normally only in region of tens of thousands of Euros, so not much of incentive for clubs to clean up their act. The idea of banning clubs for the racist behaviour of their fans is never suggested.
Indeed. Here is UEFA’s policy on racism:
€30,000: Amount Manchester City were fined for being a minute late onto the pitch for the second half in a Europa League game against Sporting.
€20,000: Amount Sporting were fined for the racial abuse from their fans directed towards Yaya Toure and Mario Balotelli of Manchester City.
Why? Well, one affects TV schedules, the other doesn’t. Can’t let little things like human dignity get in the way of advertising, can we?
Oh, and as we get ready for Ukraine’s match with Sweden on Monday, let’s not forget the insightful wisdom of Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin:
Sports being taken more seriously than racism seems to be a specific sub-point of money trampling over concerns for social justice.
ewanmacdonald,
Did Blokhin really say that?! If so, it sounds like football culture is actually worse in Europe than it is in America, which is saying quite a bit, since one of our (American) football coaches got away with child rape for decades because footbaww!
The tournament should never have gone to Poland and Ukraine
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/euro-2012/9316682/Dont-judge-a-nation-like-Ukraine-by-its-hooligans.html
I dont know if you can see BBC i Player programmes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jk4vr
But then its probably not a problem to the priveleged white men who run european football.
Havnt seen any crowd problems in first half of first game,but the tv tend to avoid showing incidents.
If you can use your hands, it isnt Football, sorry Americans
No that’s all right, I think Football is Football and that American game is something else; also that Football is way more fun to watch.
Hi Franklin,
Yes – this was in 2006 and he said it in an interview with a Russian journalist, who reported it faithfully (or, at least, was never called upon to retract.) I doubt anyone in the Ukraine footballing establishment really batted an eye. It was said in the context of there being a lack of good Ukrainian youth coming through, which is clearly down to the foreigners takin’ our jerbs. (The Ukrainian league, it’s true, has plenty of imports from Africa and Brazil, but given that Ukraine were at that time a last-eight World Cup nation Blokhin’s theory wasn’t exactly watertight.)
Let’s also remember ex-Spain boss Luis Aragones’ words about Thierry Henry. He was caught on camera during a training session telling Jose Antonio Reyes to tell “that black shit” that he was better than him. By way of apology Aragones noted that some of his best friends were gypsies, black, and Japanese, and that he was just telling “the gypsy [Reyes] that he was better than the black”, and that there was no racist Intent ™ behind this.
Aragones’ received a modest fine for this episode from the RFEF (Spanish FA.)
A talking head on TSN compared the racist hooligans to anti-Monarchists at the Queen’s jubilee celebrations. In other words, they are just a bunch of bad eggs who are looking for attention. We should simply ignore them and concentrate on the football.
Football is another sport where the only consideration is money. Nothing is going to happen: just a lot of hand-waving.
I hope that teams like The Netherlands walk off the pitch in the event of any more incidents. After all how many yellow cards can the referee give out.
There should be zero tolerance for such nonsense. As Van Bommel said: “Open your ears. If you did hear it and don’t want to hear it, that is even worse.”
If uefa can fine the Russian team for their fans fighting after the game, they sure qa heck can teams for there game racist behavior.