Dutch opt against complaint over racist chants
Reuters - Friday 08 June 2012, 10:28
Netherlands players heard
monkey chants from the crowd at a Euro 2012 training session at
Wisla Krakow's stadium this week, a team spokeswoman said on
Friday, casting a shadow over what had been a near carnival
atmosphere.
The build-up to the tournament being co-hosted by Poland and
Ukraine was dominated by worries about racism among home fans.
Coach Bert van Marwijk, Dutch officials and many of the
press did not hear any racist abuse during Wednesday's session
but it has since emerged that a handful of the squad did.
"Some players did hear some monkey noises. That is why they
moved to the other side of the pitch," the spokeswoman said.
The Dutch FA (KNVB) did not lodge a formal complaint with
UEFA but was contacted by football's European governing body after
reports of the incident appeared in local Dutch media.
"UEFA has now been made aware that there were some isolated
incidents of racist chanting that occurred at the open training
session of the Dutch team in Krakow," UEFA said in a statement
on Friday.
"Should such behaviour happen at further training sessions
UEFA would evaluate the operational measures to be taken to
protect the players.
"UEFA has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to
discriminatory behaviour and has given the power to referees to
stop matches in case of any repeated racist behaviour."
UEFA has a film crew at all open training sessions but they
did not pick up any racist chanting on their video.
FANTASTIC ATMOSPHERE
Immediately after Wednesday's session, Van Marwijk had told
reporters the atmosphere was fantastic with over 30,000 people
turning up just to watch training.
Krakow is not staging any matches.
Netherlands captain Mark van Bommel told Dutch reporters on
Thursday: "Open your ears. If you did hear it, and don't want to
hear it, that is even worse."
UEFA President Michel Platini, under pressure after boldly
handing the tournament to the two countries, said players should
let the referee handle racist abuse after some players indicated
they would walk off the pitch if it occurred in matches.
Italy's Mario Balotelli said last month he would "kill"
anyone who threw a banana at him in the street during the
European Championship.
Referring to racist chants, he added: "If it happened I
would walk off the pitch and return home. We are in 2012. It's
not possible."
The Polish and Ukrainian governments have worked hard to try
to dispel any fears of racism but a BBC documentary suggested it
was prevalent among certain fan groups.
World Cup runners-up Netherlands, who have a number of black
players, open their Euro 2012 Group B campaign against Denmark
in Ukraine's Kharkiv on Saturday.
Wednesday's incident followed a visit by the Dutch to the
Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, close to Krakow.
The tournament starts later on Friday when Poland play
Greece in a Group A match Warsaw.