By Andrew Warshaw
October 2 – Brazilian World Cup star Hulk has given more details of the racist taunts he suffered last weekend when playing for Zenit St. Petersburg against Spartak Moscow.
“During the game, racist abuse was directed toward me from the Spartak section of the ground,” Hulk was quoted as saying by the Sport Express newspaper. “In the first half, I clearly heard monkey chants shouted in my direction and this was not only on one occasion.
“This happened at least twice — midway through the first half and during injury time at the end of the first half.
“I take this as a personal insult for me and my club. I think that such things have absolutely no place and the football powers-that-be must take action in the fight against the occurrence of racial hatred.”
Russian Football Union disciplinary committee chief Artur Grigoryants, who is becoming accustomed to having to deal with instances of racism, confirmed Hulk’s story.
“We have a video of the match. … In the 24th minute and in the 45th minute, monkey chanting can be heard being directed at Hulk,” Grigoryants said. “The monkey chants came from the visitors’ section of the ground. The match delegate did not hear them during the game, but only afterward, when he re-watched it.”
The incident comes hard on the heels of the Russian Football Union slapping Torpedo Moscow with a partial stadium closure for racist behaviour directed at Dynamo Moscow defender Christopher Samba. Bizarrely Samba was also handed a two-match ban for his middle-finger retaliatory gesture to the abuse he was receiving. The French-born Congolese defender subsequently declined to play the second half of the Moscow derby.
Efforts to stamp out racism have become an increasingly sensitive issue in Russia in the buildup to the 2018 World Cup.
Three years ago, Brazilian leftback Roberto Carlos, then with Anzhi, walked off the pitch after a banana was thrown at him while in 2012 Samba, also then playing for Anzhi, was racially abused while playing at Lokomotiv Moscow. On that occasion, Samba threw the banana back into the stand. More recently, in October last year CSKA Moscow received a partial ground closure after racist abuse of Manchester City’s Yaya Toure.
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