Exclusive: Education is the only way to combat Russian racism, says Powar

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By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
October 29- The head of European football’s leading anti-racism watchdog says kicking Russia out of club and national competitions could prove counter-productive in terms of teaching the country how to eradicate the abuse of black players.

But, says Piara Powar, executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), Russia had to stop constantly going on the defensive every time it falls under the spotlight because of racism by its fans.

Powar, a member of Fifa’s anti-discrimination Task Force headed by Fifa vice-president Jeffrey Webb, has been keeping a close eye on developments involving CSKA Moscow and Manchester City’s Yaya Toure who has raised the concept of a possible boycott by black players of next year’s World Cup.

Uefa has opened an inquiry into last week’s alleged racist abuse by CSKA fans towards the Ivory Coast midfielder, with a verdict expected tomorrow (Wednesday).

Powar is impressed by Uefa’s crackdown so far this season but favours a carrot-and-stick approach and says the only way of ultimately forcing a change of attitude in Russia — and other countries in Europe with similar problems — is teaching fans what kind of chanting is and is not acceptable.

“The actions taken by Uefa this season have been a step change, with eight to ten clubs playing behind partial or full closed doors,” Powar told InsideWorldFootball. “The issue for us now is how do we educate Russian football and these fans.”

“If that’s best served by kicking them out of competitions, fine. But I’ve got a feeling that what would happen then is that it would get the backs up of people who don’t understand why it’s wrong to make monkey chants.”

“If you take how one brings up a child, you have to balance education with discipline. The same thing is applicable here. We need to engage Russian football, not to make them feel they are being singled out.”

Nevertheless, says Powar, CSKA’s dismissive response to Toure’s recent outburst is a classic defensive reaction that is fundamentally flawed.

“We have had observers at every Champions League game of CSKA Moscow this season apart from this latest one and all of them have passed off without racism. But I have no doubt about what Yaya Toure is saying, no-one should think that he could possibly make up that kind of thing.”

“The problem is this: there is a very defensive reaction in eastern Europe which seeks to deny and thinks that through denial the problem will go away. It won’t.”

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