By David Gold
March 16 – A man has admitted throwing a banana at Anzhi Makhachkala’s Brazilian star Roberto Carlos (pictured) during a league match in Samara, but will not be punished.
The man threw the banana during a game between Anzhi and Krylya Sovetov (pictured below) last June, prompting Carlos to leave the pitch in protest.
Carlos had previously suffered similar racist abuse on his debut for Anzhi earlier in 2011 against Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg.
Sergey Goldshtein, a spokesman for Samara Region police, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that the individual was arrested thanks to the use of surveillance cameras.
In its effort to clamp down on racism, the Russian Premier League has forced teams competing in the league to install such cameras.
Goldshtein confirmed the man would not face further action though, having insisted that there was no racist intent.
“In his words, he did not want to offend the footballer and threw the banana out of anger and it landed close to Roberto Carlos by chance,” Goldshtein said.
“The man said that he respects Roberto Carlos a lot and asks for his forgiveness.
“There were no racist motives behind his act.”
That the fan was identified was applauded by Krylya general director Denis Maslov.
“By and large it is a victory, not only for our club but for the whole of Russian football,” Maslov told RIA Novosti.
“Stopping such activities in the stadium is possible with such a good example as this, that the man in question was found somehow.
“We can and probably will ensure that this person will not be able to come to our team’s home games.
“And I can tell you with confidence that he will not be able to get any season pass or ticket if he has to show ID to receive it.”
Having won the right to host the 2018 World Cup, Russia is making efforts to stamp out racism in the game.
A number of high profile incidents have been highlighted in recent years, with former Zenit St Petersburg coach Dick Advocaat saying once that he wanted to, but did not sign black players simply because the fans would not accept them.
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