BBC racism and violence exposé casts dark shadow on Euro 2012

By Andrew Warshaw

May 28 – Shocking new evidence of entrenched racism and violence in Ukrainian and Polish football has cast a dark shadow over the 2012 European Championship which starts on June 8.

A BBC Panorama programme, to be screened this evening, exposes the full scale of the problem and questions whether the tournament should have been awarded to the two countries.

Racism and violence in football has long been an issue in Eastern Europe with a string of examples of black players being targeted.

Russia, hosts of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, has experienced a troubled history of racism in the sport over recent years, with a number of high-profile incidents.

Ukraine is hoping to use Euro 2012 to improve its image internationally but Panorama, which spent a month filming matches, shows footage of Asian fans being attacked, anti-Semitic chanting, Nazi salutes and monkey noises.

The two host nations, Ukraine in particular, have constantly been hit by reports of human rights violations, inflated hotel prices, inexperienced stewarding and seriously below-par infrastructure.

But the Panorama claims of rampant racism in football are potentially far more damaging than any of these.

After watching footage of the programme, former England defender Sol Campbell (pictured above), who had a distinguished career with Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, said UEFA should never have awarded the tournament to the two countries.

“I think that they were wrong, because what they should say is that ‘if you want this tournament, you sort your problems out,” said Campbell.

“Until we see a massive improvement…you do not deserve these prestigious tournaments in your country.”

Nick Lowles from the United Kingdom-based anti-racist monitoring group Hope Not Hate, added: “Increasingly, the positive thing about English football are the number of black and Asian fans that have been travelling and supporting England.

“I am concerned that they will be targeted by racists and fascists and anti-Semites in Poland and in Ukraine.”

Jonathan Ornstein of the Jewish Cultural Centre said Poland was light years behind when it came to eradicating football violence and racism.

“The stuff going on at the football stadiums is atrocious and it’s embarrassing and I think it embarrasses the whole country,” he said.

“I think that most Poles would agree with that.”

UEFA has insisted it will “promote the positive message of diversity” at the tournament and that 80,000 police officers and stewards are receiving anti-discrimination training.

In a statement countering the Panorama broadcast, European football’s governing body said it was working with both Poland and Ukraine to ensure the safety of both teams and fans.

“UEFA Euro 2012 brings the spotlight on the host countries and clearly creates an opportunity to address and confront such societal issues,” UEFA said.

“UEFA’s ‘zero tolerance’ approach to racism is still valid both on and off the pitch and ultimately the referee has the power to stop or abandon a match should racist incidents occur.”

The families of two of the black players in the England squad, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (pictured above), are reported as saying they are staying away from Euro 2012 for fear of racist attacks.

UEFA pointed out that the scenes filmed by the BBC were at domestic matches rather than targeting fans of other European countries.

But Campbell said: “Stay at home, watch it on TV.

“Don’t even risk it…because you could end up coming back in a coffin.”

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