News in 2006
14th March 2006
UEFA defensive over Rio remarks
Rio Ferdinand has been promised racism in European football grounds will be a thing of the past by the time his career is at an end.
The Manchester United star has sent an impassioned statement to European Union executives in Strasbourg backing their plans to give referees increased powers at matches affected by racist chanting.
It is proposed officials should be allowed to take players off the field and even abandon matches where such situations arise, while the EU resolution is also calling on the soccer's powerbrokers to take more decisive action in trying to erase a scourge on the game.
The initiative comes just a fortnight after Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o threatened to walk off the field in protest at the personal abuse he received during a La Liga encounter with Real Zaragoza.
Ferdinand has backed the moves, and vowed to visit the European Parliament himself to speak on the issue, arguing UEFA, among others, are paying little more than "lip-service" to the matter.
UEFA though insist massive strides are being made, with instances of racism down markedly across Europe this year.
And spokesman William Gaillard is confident further progress will eradicate the problem completely.
"If you look at the facts, football is moving forward faster on this issue than society," he said.
"I have a lot of sympathy for Rio and it is truly horrible that any individual should be singled out just for being the person they are.
"But I ask him to look back 25 years, when no-one did anything about racism, to the present day, when punitive measure are taken across Europe to try to stamp out, not just racism, but sectarianism and homophobia as well.
"I hope Rio Ferdinand plays for a long time but I truly believe, before his career is over, we will have dealt with this problem."
Gaillard cites individual club's failure to eliminate far-right groups from grounds as the major reason for the current racism problem.
He also chided Ferdinand for picking on UEFA, when the Samuel Eto'o incident fell within the jurisdiction of the Spanish Football Federation and England's friendly against Spain last year - which was marred by racist taunting of Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips - was under FIFA's remit.
However, the main thrust of Ferdinand's argument remains valid.
"For too long now, European football authorities have not taken the problem of racism in the game seriously and refuse to acknowledge how widespread the problem is," said the 28-year-old.
"I talk to a lot of European players and know there are big problems in Spain, in Italy and in eastern Europe.
"Just look at what happened to Samuel Eto'o. He was racially abused against Zaragoza and what happened? Zaragoza were fined a paltry 9000 Euros by the Spanish Football Federation.
"If he had reacted to the fans that were abusing him by gesturing to them, he would have been fined a couple of weeks' wages at the very least - but, yet again, nothing happens to the fans that abused him.
"It is time for UEFA to stop paying lip-service to the problem. The fines handed out after the England-Spain game were a joke. UEFA should look at imposing huge fines or deducting points within tournaments or competitions.
"If UEFA really is serious about kicking racism into touch the should adopt some of the penalties called for in the (EP) resolution and get on with punishing those who defame the game we all love with their backward, racist views."
To emphasise the difficulties they are dealing with, Gaillard pointed to the reaction UEFA received when they charged Rangers for the bigoted chanting of their fans during the recent Champions League ties against Villarreal.
"The Scottish FA have done a lot to try to stamp out sectarianism but most of the comments I saw were related to why we weren't looking at Celtic, which is hardly the point and probably reflects what is wrong with Glasgow society," he said.
"As a body, UEFA have taken action. We have closed stadiums, made teams play miles away from their home ground and lodged massive fines against clubs. We will continue to do so.
"But we need help from every available source. The best possible thing Rio could do is get one of his white team-mates to come to Strasbourg with him to talk about the problem because whenever we have events to discuss the racism issue we find it nearly impossible to get current players to attend."
Source: PA Sport
