If you have kept with the Euro 2012 tournament, you know the underlying story has been racism. From the Netherlands captain, Mark Van Bommel, saying he was taunted with racial slurs during their training session to Italy’s Mario Balotelli saying he would kill any fans that throw bananas at him, the newest headlines from the Euro 2012 tournament come from a fight that occurred after the Russians beat the Czech Republic, 4-1, on Friday.
After the match, fans were exiting Wroclaw stadium when a brawl broke out. Russian fans started ganging up on stadium stewards and the footage was captured on phones for the whole world to see. The police in Wroclaw, Poland said that four people had to be treated in the hospital as a result of the fighting.
UEFA has pledged zero tolerance of discrimination during the three-week tournament. To help achieve this, it asked the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) fans’ network to send two monitors to each match offensive banners, chants and behavior in stadiums, and report to UEFA within 24 hours.
The 16 competing teams’ national federations are responsible for their fans’ actions. They would be fined by UEFA before facing possible expulsion from Euro 2012 for repeated offenses.
UEFA President Michel Platini has said that his organization has given referees the power to stop and abandon matches if crowds racially abused players.
Watch the footage of the fight here:
[youtube width=”640″ height=”390″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBxzbx2D22M[/youtube]
via USA Today
