By Andrew Warshaw
April 8 – Dubbed Russia’s most aggressive club, Torpedo Moscow have been found guilty of racism yet again, this time for displaying a Nazi symbol during Sunday’s 3-1 win at Arsenal Tula.
The club have been ordered to play two more home games behind closed doors after their fourth offense of the season but sanctions don’t seem to be doing much good despite persistent platitudes from the Russian authorities that they are tackling the issue head-on.
The latest punishment will not kick in until May because the club’s next two home fixtures are already being played in an empty stadium as a result of fans abusing Zenit St. Petersburg striker Hulk with monkey chants.
Additionally, only children and female Torpedo supporters will be allowed to attend the club’s next three away games because Sunday’s match was also marred by crowd violence.
The racist behaviour of Torpedo fans has become almost de rigueur. Last November, chants were directed at Rostov’s black players while Dynamo Moscow’s Christopher Samba was also insulted two months further back, all resulting in sanctions which had little effect.
In response to the incidents at Sunday’s game, Torpedo’s president, Alexander Tukmanov, told the R-Sport agency that the club’s fans seemed to be “probably the most aggressive” of any top-flight Russian team.
The latest punishment comes a week after the Russian Football Union appointed its first dedicated anti-racism inspector. A report by two anti-discrimination organisations last month suggested there were more than 200 cases of discriminatory behaviour linked to Russian football over two seasons – just as the country builds towards the 2018 World Cup.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter tweeted twice on Russian racism saying firstly “Read that Torpedo Moscow has been served with another sanction for discriminatory behavior of fans. Lots of work to be done. But…” and secondly “Good to see that RFS has appointed an anti-racism inspector. Sanctions MUST be applied, but education is equally important.”
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