EUROPEAN FOOTBALL’S GOVERNING body today said it had called for tighter procedures and increased policing to prevent a reoccurence of the racist abuse that hit the Netherlands team training last week.
In a statement published on its website, the body said:
“UEFA has written to the mayors of the relevant Polish and Ukrainian cities to ask that measures be implemented to prevent discriminatory or racist behaviour at open training sessions.”
They advised that “all effective and necessary measures — including an increased police presence — be implemented to prevent any display of discriminatory or racist behaviour at such public sessions”.
Netherlands captain Mark van Bommel said in an interview published in De Telegraaf last Friday that the team heard monkey chants during a public training session in the southern Polish city of Krakow and called the situation “unacceptable”.
UEFA initially said it had contacted the Dutch team but had not received any reports of racist abuse. But it later said it had been made aware of “isolated incidents” of racist chanting although had not received a formal complaint.
The governing body said in its statement that it had asked for anyone “found to be engaging in racist behaviour be immediately ejected from the stadium and its vicinity, and that criminal proceedings be launched against such individuals”.
They have also asked for the full support of the Polish authorities and said they were confident any incidents would be dealt with properly.
Racism has become a major issue for tournament co-hosts Poland and Ukraine after claims that far-right extremist gangs were rife at football grounds in both countries.
Warsaw and particularly Kiev have strongly denied the allegations, with both and UEFA maintaining that racism is a problem across European society and not just at football grounds in the two eastern European countries.
But UEFA is already looking into reports from a racism monitoring body that a black Czech Republic player was the target of monkey noises from Russia fans during the two sides’ Group A opener in Wroclaw, Poland, last Friday.