Int Football - Racism forces Spain-England move

Eurosport - Mon, 13 Oct 15:03:00 2008

England's friendly against Spain is set to be moved from its scheduled venue of Madrid next year over fears that racism could again become the overriding feature of the match.

2008 England Jermain Defoe Emile Heskey Shaun Wright-Phillips - 0

The last time England played Spain in Madrid, in 2004, sections of the crowd at the Bernabeu stadium rained racist chants down on some of England's players.

Shaun Wright-Phillips was abused - along with Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Jermain Defoe and Jermaine Jenas. The Spanish Federation were eventually fined 56,000 euros.

And with England striker Emile Heskey a recent victim of racist monkey chants from Croatia fans during their recent World Cup qualifier, the FA are keen to avoid having to play in the Spanish capital.

Although an official agreement is yet to be reached between the FA and their Spanish counterparts, the fixture is expected to be played on Wednesday, February 11, the only remaining FIFA international date still to be filled.

"This fixture is one of the friendly games that Fabio Capello requested to play. But as yet, a venue is still to be confirmed and the contract still to be signed," said FA director of communications Adrian Bevington.

"However, from the outset, the FA, with Fabio, were clear we would not play the fixture in Madrid due to the incidents of racial abuse we faced last time.

"Fabio is totally supportive of this fixture."

With Madrid ruled out, Seville and Valencia would appear the most likely alternatives.

Spain do not have a national stadium and play in a large number of cities. Their last 10 home games have taken place in Albacete, Murcia, Santander, Huelva, Elche, Malaga, Las Palmas, Madrid, Oviedo and Mallorca.

They have not played in Barcelona since 2004.

Rather than see the problem simply move from one city to another, the FA have vowed to work closely with the Spanish Federation on a number of anti-racism measures before the proposed fixture, which both bodies are expected to support.

Capello, the former coach of Real Madrid, regards Spain as the best international side in Europe at the moment, and worthy winners of Euro 2008.

With Liverpool's Fernando Torres spearheading their attack and Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas also in the Spain squad, there is significant Premier League interest.

Spain are currently captained by Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas and beat Estonia 3-0 on Saturday in their latest World Cup qualifier.

AFP

Comment 13 - 32 of 52

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  1. anyone who is a racist needs to look at themselves and­ make a change and not live like its 100 years ago.­ Multiculturalism, HELLO!

    From bushy, on Mon 13 Oct 6:00PM

  2. how is borat running around picadilly circus racist mr­ colinsturd

    From stephen, on Mon 13 Oct 5:57PM

  3. On Saturday Football Focus had a Borat look alike­ running around Picadilly Circus. Because Borat is an­ accurate portrayal of the Kazaks. When the clip ended­ we flipped back to the studio and there was Manesh­ whateverhissurnameis laughing. I don't think we­ need the English to teach us what racism is.

    From colinsmurd, on Mon 13 Oct 5:39PM

  4. how is it cheating?its not nice, but its not cheating!

    From stanleyippkiss2003, on Mon 13 Oct 5:16PM

  5. fans are an important part of the game so making­ rascist chants during a football match or any game is­ cheating.cheats should be sanctioned.

    From franklin b concience, on Mon 13 Oct 3:11PM

  6. so is true spain don't have a national stadium and­ fifa said r=they are world number 1??????

    From patrick, on Mon 13 Oct 3:10PM

  7. Tell me im wrong Stephan?

    From Michael, on Mon 13 Oct 3:10PM

  8. mike.@#$%..........................?

    From stephen, on Mon 13 Oct 3:00PM

  9. Sure if the coloured don't get abused in­ International games ye brits will just abuse them the­ weekend when they play with there clubs! eg. Sol­ Cambell. Ye should look at yourselves first before­ judging others!

    From Michael, on Mon 13 Oct 2:55PM

  10. fans who make rascist chants are not interested in­ watching a match and they should be thrown out of a­ stadium when identified so they can go back home and­ make rascist chants into their TV.BUT if the chants are­ widespread then the generallity of the fans are not­ ready to enjoy their ticket's worth so the match­ should be stopped by the officials or the players.the­ offending 'team' should be deducted points.MY­ candid ADVICE!

    From franklin b concience, on Mon 13 Oct 2:53PM

  11. fools fools fools

    From Absalom, on Mon 13 Oct 2:38PM

  12. just later spain they are little cowardly opponents­ & i cannot believe how they are allowed to feign­ such injury ,when not touched , football was a mans­ game not a gymnastics comp
    KICK RACISM OUT &­ RACISTS SHOULD BE BANNED FOR LIFE.....

    From PAUL L, on Mon 13 Oct 1:36PM

  13. yosef, you my friend are a clown! if you filtered out­ all the races from England there wouldn't be anyone­ left !! roman , saxon, norman, scots, irish.....etc­ etc. Go and get educated 'numbskull'

    From Chris W, on Mon 13 Oct 1:33PM

  14. To Yosef9636
    I'd like to thank you for letting me­ know that there's an every bigger idiot then George­ Bush living on this planet. If you want to talk about­ roots then all European teams should be subject to­ racial slang seeing as most of those roots originated­ in Africa and the Middle East, but that's besides­ the point. Hope your parents, Blatter and Ms. Donkey­ are proud of you.

    From buda, on Mon 13 Oct 1:33PM

  15. To Yosef9636
    I'd like to thank you for letting me­ know that there's an every bigger idiot then George­ Bush living on this planet. If you want to talk about­ roots then all European teams should be subject to­ racial slang seeing as most of those roots originated­ in Africa and the Middle East, but that's besides­ the point. Hope your parents, Blatter and Ms. Donkey­ are proud of you.

    From buda, on Mon 13 Oct 1:29PM

  16. Blatter must feel sad, he had to stop calling rich­ footballers who don't get to go to the spainish­ league 'slaves' and now he can't yell­ racial slangs at the English when they play spain.­ Maybe he can go to Italy and yell racial slangs at­ their team cause they do have black blood in them (The­ Moors did conquer them for a whille and did a lot of­ the nasty with the italian women)
    Maybe they should­ section off a small part of the stadium with­ sound-proof glass. People who want to yell racial­ slangs can pay extra to sit there so the rest of us can­ just concentrate on the game.

    From buda, on Mon 13 Oct 1:15PM

  17. To yosef9636, what you re is very ridiculous, I­ don't think you have a human brain in order to be­ called human.
    your comment is stupid and you are also­ very stupid...Bless you, T*AT

    From claude, on Mon 13 Oct 1:13PM

  18. To yosef9636: well dude, what you 'preach'­ sounds same as this... your name (just as mine) doesnt­ sound english/british, therefore you may as well eff­ off back to your roots/country and dont bother people­ on english/british website. Sounds racist? Just like­ your comment dude.

    From Baywatch, on Mon 13 Oct 1:12PM

  19. To Yousef9636.

    How you can accuse England of this­ compared to other teams is beyond belief. How many­ countries now have naturalized Brazilians playing for­ them, or a team like France with a certain Zinedine­ Zidane who certainly wasn't born in­ France...Anyway, the rules allow this so it's not­ cheating. Plus, if you are suggesting that anyone who­ is not of Engliah origin can't play, how do you­ define english origen? It's precisely because of­ not being racist that we have a multicultural society.

    From stephen, on Mon 13 Oct 1:06PM

  20. Bring the match to
    The training ground at La Manga­ club Costa Calida

    From Colin T, on Mon 13 Oct 12:55PM
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