Racism: Italian officials told to enforce guidelines, including stopping games

January 15 – Italian match officials will be told to follow international guidelines in dealing with racist behaviour from fans following the outcry over the treatment of Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly.

Gabriele Gravina, the head of the country’s federation (FIGC), told Gazzetta dello Sport that his organisation would in future  “simplify” the procedure for dealing with racist incidents.

UEFA and the international players’ union FIFPro both criticised the match officials for “failing to respect anti-racism protocol” after monkey chants were directed at Koulibaly throughout his team’s 1-0 Serie A loss at Inter Milan on Boxing Day.

The pre-match violence and subsequent racist chanting immediately resulted in a ban on Inter fans attending two home games. FIFPro and UEFA also said the racial abuse aimed at Koulibaly, who was born in France to Senegalese parents, was “unacceptable” and had “no place in football.”

The two organisations criticised a failure to follow the recognised protocol for dealing with racist incidents.

The three-step process dictates that, in the first instance, the referee should stop the game and request that an announcement be made over the public address system. The second step requires the players to return to the changing rooms while the issue is addressed and the final step, if required, is to abandon the match.

Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti claims he asked officials on three occasions to suspend the game at the San Siro but no such action was taken. Koulibaly was sent off 10 minutes from the end of the match after he sarcastically applauded a booking, before Lautaro Martinez netted a stoppage-time winner for Inter.

Last week Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said he was against the idea of stopping games, saying it would put Italian football on a “slippery slope.”

But Gravina took a different view.  “I respect the minister’s ideas but the FIGC should follow the procedures of FIFA and UEFA,” he said. “In the next meeting of the executive committee we will simplify the process for stopping matches.”

“Following a stadium announcement, the match will be temporarily suspended and the teams will go to the centre of the pitch. If the chanting continues, they will go to the dressing room. At that point, the public security officials will decide if the match is re-started or called off.”

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