Champions League - UEFA make racism stand

Eurosport - Tue, 12 May 20:10:00 2009

UEFA's executive committee ruled that referees can take players off the field for as long as they want if there is racist chanting from fans during matches organised by the body.

FOOTBALL 2007 European Under-21 Championship Serbia Racism - 0

Match officials can now take "strong and decisive action" if Champions League, Europa Cup, Intertoto Cup and European Championship games are marred by such abuse.

The idea will now be examined more closely and new guidelines will be given to referees after the next meeting in Vilnius at the beginning of July.

UEFA General Secretary David Taylor told Reuters: "We have been working on this idea for a long time now and the time has come to allow the referee to stop, suspend, or abandon the match because of outside interference of any kind.

"That could be 10 minutes or longer, depending on the circumstances."

He added: "We want to send a clear warning that racist behaviour of any kind will not be tolerated at UEFA matches."

A number of racist incidents, mainly involving chants from home fans, have blighted matches in recent years and UEFA have often been criticised for imposing relatively minor fines and sanctions on the governing body of offending nations.

Whether or not matches could be forfeited as a result of racist abuse has yet to be decided.

In other news from the meeting, Romania, celebrating the 100th anniversary of its FA's foundation, was chosen as the host nation for the European Under-19 Championship in 2011.

The executive committee also approved its annual Monaco Charity Award for one million Swiss Francs to be presented to the British National Association of Disabled Supporters for a four-year development programme for their Centre for Access to Football in Europe' project.

The meeting concludes on Wednesday when the host cities for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine will be announced.

Reuters

Comment 1 - 11 of 11

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  1. shut the @#$% up,u no @#$% black this black­ that,it's u fckers who shoud be baned

    From Peter, on Tue 19 May 7:03PM

  2. U know what??? Iw will be unfair to the black players­ bcoz they receive a threat more than white players....­ Its a fact.. So if ref take out a black player, but in­ EPL black player consider important to the managers­ bcoz of their physical, speed and agility.. So UEFA­ have to take my comment into a consideration.. I'm­ not a racist bcoz my family and relatives were mix

    From Muhammad Sallehuddin, on Mon 18 May 5:27PM

  3. S
    and where are you from... bet I can prove you are a­ bigger racist if you have the balls to tell me where­ you are from...

    From DaGringo, on Sun 17 May 4:55AM

  4. restrict most english and spanish fans to within their­ borders and racism will almost cease to exist in­ football.

    From S, on Sat 16 May 11:43PM
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    From henrystreet1, on Thu 14 May 4:36PM

  6. seidu s
    Sorry UEFA investigated racist chants at a­ couple of English stadiums this season... Question is­ how come you English like to judge others when you are­ the producers of the greatest genocides in history,­ leaving Adolf waaaaaaaaaaaay behind... You've­ murdered Blacks, Indians, Asians, have murdered Muslims­ (and still are!) But your gonna say "we the­ English have changed!" and I say go ask that poor­ Brazillian guy who got shot by your cops cause he­ looked like a darkie Arab... I will readily admit I­ don't like the English because they are HYPOCRITES,­ now go kiss your american master's A S S.

    From DaGringo, on Thu 14 May 8:25AM

  7. not accurate seidu s. The levels may be higher in Italy­ or Spain. but not accurate.

    From kellz_86, on Thu 14 May 7:12AM

  8. Racism by fans is a reflection of the larger society­ they come from. How come racist chants are never heard­ in England and yet a persistent phenomenon in Italy and­ Spain? Simply, England has a more enlightened society­ than those two.

    From SMANDYQUEEN, on Wed 13 May 11:16PM

  9. Fans pay to see footballers of all continents, think­ again it's the fans that need banning permantly ,­ don't penalise all fans for the sake of a handfull­ of neanderthalls
    thugs, idiots and moorons.

    From Roughie Toughie Northerner, on Wed 13 May 9:51AM

  10. why not unite against incompetence in uefa?! that's­ a more realistic goal than racism.

    From go, on Tue 12 May 8:53PM

  11. ok

    From chechenr, on Tue 12 May 8:19PM
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