Poland steps up battle against racism in Euro 2012 build-up

By David Gold

October 15 – A match involving a team comprised of players from a range of ethnic backgrounds and Polish stars has taken place in Warsaw as part of the ‘Never Again’ Association’s ‘Poland for All’ event.

Following the game, a children’s tournament which involved teams made up of Brazilians, French and Russians among others was held.

As part of the event, children from Warsaw painted anti-racist murals, and guests participated in the creation of a street art project campaigning against racism.

The project was conducted by artist and Never Again Association supporter Dariusz Paczkowski.

In addition to these activities, every Polish league game this weekend will feature anti-racism broadcasts over tannoys, as well as players running onto the pitch with children wearing t-shirts including messages discouraging racism.

The Ekstraklasa, Poland’s First Division, said that it “fully supports the battle against racism in football, through activities promoting tolerance and fair play in all the stadiums.”

Earlier this year ‘Never Again’ released a report which showed 195 racist incidents in the previous 18 months in both Poland and Ukraine, the two co-hosts for next year’s European Championships, and they have been involved in a series of initiatives designed to tackle the issue.

Dr Rafal Pankowski, coordinator for the East Europe Monitoring Centre, which set up the Never Again association, said: “The involvement of the Polish league and clubs in an anti-racist campaign of this scale for the first time is quite an historic event for Polish football and society.

“It doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it follows a series of racist and anti-Semitic incidents which showed yet again that Polish football had a problem with racism.

“More importantly, the eyes of the world are on Poland as a Euro 2012 host so Polish football needs to tackle the issue of racism head on rather than sweep it under the carpet.”

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