04.02.2013

Incidents reported to FARE during December 2012 and January 2013

The following list of incidents of racism, xenophobia, extreme nationalism or homophobia have been reported to FARE during the last two months. This is not a comprehensive list and only reflects a fraction of the incidents that occurred.

6 December 2012 – UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE: Partizan Belgrade v Rubin Kazan El

At 32 minutes of the UEFA Europa League match between Partizan Belgrade and Rubin Kazan El, a group of supporters of the Belgrade team taunted the away fans with the words “Gipsy, Gipsy” against the Russian side.

17 December 2012 – Russia: Zenit St. Petersburg
Landscrona, the largest Zenit fan group, released a manifesto entitled “Selection 12 manifesto” demanding the club refrains from buying black and gay players.

18 December 2012 – England: Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool midfielder Suso was fined £10,000 for calling his teammate, José Enrique, “gay” on Twitter and was also warned about his future conduct after the English Football Association deemed it to be homophobic.

21 December 2012 – Poland: LKS Lodz
Supporters of LKS Lodz broke into the stadium of Widzew Lodz (local rival), reached the stadium’s sector D, usually occupied by the ultras of Widzew during match days, tore down flags, while shouting anti-Semitic chants, including “Death to the Jewish Widzew whore”.

3 January 2013 – Italy: Pro Patria v Milan
AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng left the pitch of the Busto Arsizio’s club in protest after being the victim of racist abuses from Pro Patria fans during a friendly match against the home team. The player’s teammates also walked off the pitch as a gesture of solidarity towards the Ghanaian international. The game was cancelled.

5 January 2013 – Italy: Lazio v Cagliari
During the Italian Serie A match a group of fans of Lazio's Curva Nord abused the Cagliari player Victor Ibarbo. While the rest of the stadium whistled in an attempt to drown out the chants, the referee warned both captains the match would be suspended if the abuse continued. There was not interrupted again.

26 January 2013 – Israel: Beitar Jerusalem
At an Israeli Premier League game, Beitar Jerusalem supporters held a banner reading “Beitar will always remain pure”. Other signs hoisted by fans protested against its owner's intention to sign two Muslim Chechen players.
The club was sanctioned by the Israeli football association because of the incident, they were ordered to close the Teddy Kollek Stadium's 7,000-seat eastern stand for five matches and received a 50,000 shekels (£8,623) fine.

30 January 2013 – The Netherlands: AZ Alkmaar v Den Bosch
Racist chants were aimed at AZ Alkmaar and USA striker Jozy Altidore at a match against Den Bosch in the quarter-finals of the Dutch Cup. The referee spoke to club officials when the chanting broke out in the first half and instructed second-tier Den Bosch to put a message warning the crowd that he would stop the match if the abuse carried on. The game was briefly suspended.

31 January 2013 – Slovakia: Rimavska Sobota
Japanese striker Yuki Nakamura quit his Slovakian 2nd league club Rimavska Sobota saying that neither the club nor his teammates supported and protected him from the racial abuse that he was targeted with by supporters. According to the footballer, the verbal abuse happened before and after matches. On loan from the Czech club Viktoria Zizkov, Kakamura posted on his blog a statement expressing his unhappiness with the situation and announcing his return to Japan.

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