Russia responds to latest "banana incident" with anti-racism football taskforce launch

By David Gold

March 23 – The Russian Football Union (RFU) has launched a taskforce to tackle racism in football, just days after Christopher Samba (pictured far right) had a banana thrown at him during a league game.

Anzhi Makhachkala’s Congolese defender Samba suffered the abuse during his team’s 1-0 defeat to Lokomotiv Moscow on Sunday (March 18).

Lokomotiv have denied the incident took place but Anzhi said Samba, who recently signed from Blackburn Rovers, threw the banana back into the VIP section from where it had been thrown.

On its website, the RFU reiterated that they do not “accept any expressions of racism, xenophobia and extremism”.

They said that the committee set up to examine the issue will consider recent cases and make proposals to amend the regulations of the RFU, in order to bring in tougher sanctions.

The Russian Premier League is also keen to stamp out racism, which has cast a dark shadow over Russian football in recent years.

Samba’s team mate Roberto Carlos suffered similar racist abuse twice last year after signing from Corinthians, the first time against Zenit St Petersburg and then against Krylya Sovetov.

After the second incident Carlos left the pitch in protest, and although a supporter admitted to throwing a banana at the Brazilian, police opted not to charge him.

Last week, Torpedo Moscow were ordered to play home games behind closed doors after fans racially abused the Ivorian Alania Vladikavkaz defender Dacosta Goore.

On Tuesday (March 20), Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said at a press conference that they would investigate the incident involving Samba, claiming they weren’t the only country troubled by racism.

With Russia hosting the World Cup in 2018, authorities are hopeful of eliminating racism before the tournament.

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