By Andrew Warshaw
June 8 – UEFA today confirmed there were “isolated incidents of racist chanting” aimed at Netherlands players during a pre-European Championship open training session in Kraków yesterday and reiterated its stance against all forms of discrimination.
Dutch captain Mark van Bommel described monkey chants aimed at teammates by a minority of around 20,000 fans as a “real disgrace”, however, his country opted to make no official complaint.
Given that the incident, however embarrassing, took place outside stadiums and not within a match situation, UEFA’s options are limited, save perhaps to close off training sessions.
In a statement the European governing body said: “Should such behaviour happen at further training sessions, UEFA would evaluate the operational measures to be taken to protect players.
“UEFA has now been made aware that there were some isolated incidents of racist chanting that occurred at the open training session of the Dutch team yesterday in Kraków.
“UEFA has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to discriminatory behaviour and has given the power to referees to stop matches in case of any repeated racist behaviour.”
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