Fans in Marseille: also racism

Last for a week, the attention of all fans is riveted on the championship taking place in France European football. As you know, on June 14, UEFA imposed a fine and disciplinary penalty in the form of a conditional disqualification for the Russian national team until the end of the tournament. The reason for this was the events of 11 June, when Russian fans in Marseilles after the end of the match with the England team broke into the English tribune and put up a fight.

We would like to draw attention to that UEFA also noted "racist behavior of fans" at the match. The delegate of the match in the report noted "racist hoots" of fans, which, however, were not "massive". And the head of the All-Russian association of fans (VOB) Alexander Shprygin admitted that in the first 10-15 minutes of the match "at the very top, at the junction of the sectors hung a small flag with Celtic cross. “But it was quickly taken down. True, they managed to fix it, ”- added Shprygin. It is clear that against the background of everything else that happened before after and during the ill-fated match it seems like a small thing. Nevertheless, these episodes again bring us back to the topic fan racism.

Unfortunately, racist manifestations in This environment has long become familiar in Russia. They pop up periodically and to international stands.

For example, on 16 October 2016 UEFA fined 20 thousand euros for the Lokomotiv team for the behavior of fans at the Lokomotiv match - Skenderbeu (Europa League), when the hosts' fans shouted the Serbian chants "Kill sheptar" ("Kill the Albanian") and "Kosovo-Serbia". Because of the screams the match was interrupted. By decision of UEFA, the team also had to close one of sectors of the south stand at the next UEFA home game.

And February 18, 2014 Control and disciplinary UEFA instance punished the Moscow club CSKA for the racist behavior of fans and the demonstration of far-right symbols in match of the group stage of the Champions League with the Czech "Victoria". CSKA was fined for 50 thousand euros. This decision was made taking into account previous antics. team fans.

Yes, and at the last European Championship football in 2012, Russian fans excelled. UEFA fined the RFU 30,000 euros for the behavior of fans during the match between the national teams of Russia and the Czech Republic. Sanctions were applied against the RFU, in particular for the fact that fans of the Russian teams shouted racist slurs. After the match, the first black football player in the history of the Czech national team Teodor Gebrselassie complained to racist insults from the fans of the Russian team.

Nasty racist incidents involving Russian fans occur in football and near-football regularly. These include xenophobic insults, insulting shouts, Nazi greetings and symbols, requests not to hire certain players, and even systematic denial of the opportunity to play or become a member of a football team because of skin color or nationality. These deplorable acts of intolerance and prejudice is recognized as unacceptable throughout the world, and any manifestation of racism should be suppressed, with which, in principle, the Russian football clubs. It remains only to translate this fundamental agreement into practice.