By Paul Nicholson
February 27 – Dutch fans of Feyenoord are desperately taking to social media to insist that the inflatable plastic banana thrown on to the pitch during the Europa League match against Roma was not a racist act. Just an unfortunate choice of fruit? Equally unfortunate that it appeared to be aimed at Roma’s Gervinho?
But it wasn’t an apple or an orange, and it certainly it left a bad taste in a match that descended into chaos as it was twice halted, once briefly for the banana incident and again in the second half for about 15 minutes as Feyenoord fans showered the pitch with missiles.
Gervinho went on to score the winner in a 2-1 victory as the Italians progressed to the last 16 3-2 on aggregate.
“It was right to suspend play,” said Roma coach Rudi Garcia. “We could have opened a shop with all the objects thrown from the stands.”
Feyenoord’s coach, Fred Rutten, denied the banana incident might have been racist – yes, he really did. “There is such a fuss made about it,” he said. “I don’t see it that way. We have different nationalities in our team. It’s nonsense. We make too much of it.”
But Feyenoord have a history of racist incidents and it seems the club is still living in denial. In August 2014, UEFA ordered Feyenoord to close a section of their stadium for a European game and pay a €45,000 fine after their Champions League match against Besiktas was marred by racist chants and the throwing of missiles.
The first leg of the tie had been marred by violence in Rome when Feyenoord fans ran riot, clashing with police and causing damage to buildings. For the second leg Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb drafted an emergency order giving police enhanced powers to detain fans and eject them from the city for rioting. 17 locals and one Italian were reportedly detained before the game.
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