Wednesday 16 May 2012

Racism Fears Ahead Of EURO

The FA has raised concerns with UEFA over the prospect of England players being racially abused during this summer's European Championship.

David Bernstein, the FA chairman, has discussed the issue with Uefa president Michel Platini and been promised that referees have "increased powers to deal with situations in matches".


Bernstein said yesterday that the FA had been "working on all sorts of contingency plans and preparing for all eventualities" should any England players be the subject of racial abuse at Euro 2012. Last week the UK's senior policeman in charge of footballing matters, Assistant Chief Constable Andy Holt, warned of the possibility of England players and supporters being racially abused in Ukraine, where England will play their three group games.

In the course of a meeting with Platini two weeks ago, Bernstein raised the subject; yesterday Bernstein told a Parliamentary inquiry into racism in football that Platini had assured him Uefa was taking the issue "very, very seriously".


"They have given referees increased powers to deal with situations in matches," Bernstein told the Culture, Media and Sport committee at Westminster.

When asked about Euro 2012, Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, told the same inquiry: "We've got a big worry with the European Championship."

Uefa insists it is taking steps to address the issue ahead of the tournament, which begins on 8 June. More than 80,000 police officers and stewards in Poland and Ukraine will be given "anti-discrimination training to help them identify discriminatory chants, symbols and behaviour," say Uefa.

Europe's governing body says sanctions have been provided to deal with any incidents. Under measures which were actually introduced in 2009, referees have the "power to abandon a match should racist behaviour occur in the stadium". In the extreme, that could result in the "awarding of a match by default, deduction of points or disqualification from the competition". Any player found guilty of abusing an opponent faces a minimum of a five-match ban.

England players have been on the receiving end of racist abuse during previous visits to eastern Europe. Last year the Bulgarian FA was fined 40,000 Euro after Ashley Young, Ashley Cole and Theo Walcott were abused by the home support.

Uefa has been criticised for its response to previous racist incidents. Earlier this season Manchester City were fined 30,000 Euro because their players came out late for the second half against Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League. That was 10,000 Euro more than Porto were fined for their fans racially abusing City players in the previous round.

The on-going problem with racism at football grounds in Poland and Ukraine was highlighted this year when the respected campaign group Never Again, which is linked to the Uefa-backed group Football Against Racism in Europe, produced a report detailing 195 incidents of "racist and discriminatory behaviour" between September 2009 and March 2011. 

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