By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
October 24 – The Russian racism row following Wednesday night’s Champions League clash between CSKA Moscow and Manchester City was elevated a further level today when UEFA President Michel Platini requested an internal investigation into why the UEFA protocol for dealing with racial incidents was not applied. Already UEFA has opened a disciplinary investigation into the actual incident, while the Russian World Cup organisers have also issued a statement promising to eradicate racism. Meanwhile CSKA are still in denial.
Platini wants to know why the three-step protocol established to deal with racist incidents was ignored. The protocol gives the referee power to stop the match and ask for a public address system announcement to be made urging spectators to stop the racist abuse, with the warning that the game will be suspended and subsequently abandoned if the behaviour continues.
Less than 24 hours after the incident, UEFA formally opened disciplinary proceedings against CSKA Moscow for the “racist behaviour of their fans” and said the case would be dealt with by its disciplinary board on October 30. The results of the protocal investigation will be announced after this.
CSKA said it considered the allegations to be “unfounded” and a club spokesman said they had nothing to hide and were surprised by Manchester City’s Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure’s claims he was the object of monkey chants and other abuse. But if the case is proven, under UEFA’s strict new guidelines the club seem likely to suffer either a partial or full stadium closure.
In terms of the bigger picture, the timing of the UEFA disciplinary hearing could hardly be more inopportune for Russia given next week’s scheduled 2018 board meeting in Kazan when World Cup organisers are scheduled to hold a general briefing session with FIFA which could well now include a discussion on racism.
Russia’s 2018 World Cup organisers have moved quickly to react to the latest allegations of racial abuse by their fans, insisting they are determined to eradicate the problem in the years leading up to the tournament. Toure has demanded strong action from UEFA.
A statement by the 2018 LOC said every effort would be made to educate Russian fans ahead of the World Cup and that there was “absolutely no place for any type of racial discrimination or abuse in our game.”
Although the statement did not confirm or deny Wednesday’s racism allegations and was issued shortly before UEFA charged CSKA, it added: “What is clear is that football is uniquely positioned to educate fans in combating this global issue. The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, in particular, can act as a catalyst to positively change the mindsets and behaviour across all involved in Russian football over the next four years.
“The Fans Law that was recently passed into legislation shows Russia’s determination to eradicate the problem for good.”
Instances of racism are particularly sensitive to Russia which, since winning the vote to host the 2018 World Cup, has had to witness several examples of discrimination.
Both CSKA and much of the local media reacted with disbelief at the latest allegations. After Russian state television’s vesti.ru website warned CSKA “could face serious problems”, the Moscow club’s general director and players claimed hearing nothing offensive coming from the stands.
“We did not hear any chanting,” CSKA general director Roman Babayev was quoted as saying by Russian media. “Moreover, there were various calls and noises addressed at other players beside the dark-skinned ones.”
Babayev promised to “carefully review the episodes mentioned by Toure” but insisted that reports of racist behaviour by the club’s supporters were “premature”.
The Moscow club’s own Ivorian forward Seydou Doumbia agreed, stating in an interview featured on the front page of Russia’s popular Sport Express daily, that his countryman “clearly overreacted”.
“I’ve never heard any such thing from our fans,” Doumbia said. “Sure, they loudly support our team and try to put as much pressure on the opponents as possible. But no one permits themselves racist chanting.”
A Russian UEFA official, Sergei Borisov, told the ITAR-TASS news agency that he “heard no racist chanting”. Borisov added he doubted that UEFA would take Toure’s claims seriously.
“It is not a fact that this appeal would be reviewed (by UEFA),” he was quoted as saying. “For a start, it has to be substantiated. … According to my information, the (UEFA) delegate at the match did not make any records,” of the alleged chanting.
But significantly, InsideWorldFootball has been told that Borisov had no authority to make such remarks, that he was a media officer at the game organising press conferences, that he was not a UEFA employee and that his remit did not extend to passing comments on such matters.
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