By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 19 – After promising that the World Cup would be the most culturally inclusive to date and send a positive message around the world, FIFA have been hit with a number of racism reports involving fans from up to four of the finalists.
World football’s governing body has been contacted by European football’s anti-racism watchdog FARE relating to discriminatory chanting including at the games between Brazil and Mexico and Cameroon and Mexico.
The allegations centre around the use of the word ‘puto’ which translates into ‘whore’ and has been heard in games in Fortaleza and Natal.
In a statement, FIFA said: “We can confirm that we have been contacted by Fare. Prior to this, disciplinary proceedings were opened against Mexico for improper conduct of spectators during the Mexico-Cameroon game. As the proceedings are ongoing, we are not in a position to comment further.”
Russia and Croatia have also been cited over what have been described as ‘neo-Nazi banners’ during their group matches against South Korea and Brazil, respectively.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter, in his address last week to FIFA Congress, made a point of flagging up the anti-racism theme and calling for the harshest possible sanctions. “We stand united and strong against all forms of racism and discrimination,” he told delegates.
“We must impose the toughest punishments to send a clear message. Suspensions and empty stadia are not enough. We should be docking points, expelling teams or relegating them.”
Both Russia and Croatia have considerable history.
Both were punished by UEFA during the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine two years ago for a mixture of banners and chanting and the issue of racism came to the fore while Russia were bidding to stage the 2018 World Cup.
Before the current tournament, Croatia midfielder Josip Simunic was banned for 10 games over his celebrations following his country’s playoff victory over Iceland. At the end of the game Simunic went to the centre of the pitch with a microphone and yelled “U boj, u boj !” (to the battle!), “za dom !” (for the homeland!). The fans replied by shouting “Spremni !” (We are ready!). The chant was identified as the war cry used by the Ustaše, the Croatian pro-Nazi regime that ruled during World War II
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected Simunic’s appeal against being barred for discriminatory behaviour after he argued he had no intention to offend anyone and was just being patriotic.
Piara Powar, executive director of FARE and a member of Fifa’s anti-discrimination task force led by CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb, painted a grim picture of the current level of the problem.
“It seems that some fans of some countries will take their hatred halfway around the world,” he said. “These images need to be acted on urgently. The levels of homophobic abuse at some matches is also totally unacceptable. There is some rapid education required before it begins to run out of control.”
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