March 29 – The fear of racism rearing its ugly head at the World Cup in Russia has intensified following alleged abuse directed at French players by Russian fans during a high-profile friendly this week.
Russian World Cup organisers have frequently insisted, altogether unconvincingly, that racism is not that big a problem and that the country should not be singled out but FIFA says it is looking into the alleged discrimination saying it was “collecting the different match reports and potential evidence”.
Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele are said to be among those subjected to taunts.
The match was played at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, a host venue for the World Cup. French Minister for Sport Laura Flessel commented: “Racism has no place on the football pitch. We have to act in unison at a European and international level to put an end to these inadmissible actions.”
The latest alleged unsavoury chanting follows a string of other incidents in Russia whose leading clubs have been held to account on and off by UEFA over several months.
FARE (Football Against Racism in Europe), which monitors discrimination in football on a national scale, detailed close to 90 incidents of racism in the Russian league last season. The organisation’s head, Piara Powar, says this week’s action shows what could happen during the World Cup.
“For us, the key issue is that the match took place at a stadium that will host one of biggest games during the World Cup, a semi-final will be there, plus many group games,” he told the BBC.
Russian coach Stanislav Cherchesov not surprisingly played down the level of racism in his country, adopting the same line as Russian football’s anti-discrimination chief Alexei Smertin.
But Powar said: “In many ways this match was a test of the protocols that the Russian FA has put in place, it was a match governed by the Russian FA. This is a cause for concern, just over two months before the tournament, with no response from the stadium authorities after what looked to be a major incident.”
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