*** Official Racism in Football Thread ***

Figure we can post recent notable accounts of racism in the sport, maybe stir up some discussion.

I'll start with Chris Samba who is at Anzhi Makachocolatemilka and got a nanner thrown at him

Spoiler

Anzhi investigate banana incident

Anzhi Makhachkala have called on Lokomotiv Moscow to identify the supporter who threw a banana at defender Christopher Samba after Sunday's Premier League game in the Russian capital.



Christopher Samba in action during Sunday's game at Lokomotiv Moscow (GettyImages)


• Samba explains Anzhi switch
Anzhi released a statement condemning the incident on Monday, labelling it "idiotic".
The statement read: "We are deeply disappointed with the idiotic episode that happened to our player Christopher Samba after the match Lokomotiv-Anzhi.
"We are assured that the representatives of the football authorities, (the) security service of Lokomotiv will settle this issue and the guilty will be identified and punished."
Former Congo international Samba, who was born in France, added: "I'm very upset that such misconduct took place in view of children, who were sitting on those very stands.
"It can serve as a bad example for them. I try not to think about racism. I just want to believe that such problems do not exist on a global basis. Maybe I am mistaken but I do want to believe in it.
"As a rule any scandal of this kind is a result of a misconduct committed by one silly person. I don't want to react to this."
It is not the first time Anzhi have been involved in an incident of this kind. Last June a fan threw a banana at Brazilian left-back Roberto Carlos during a game with Krylya Sovetov.
He subsequently confessed but was not charged after insisting it was not a racist gesture.

 

Russia launch anti-racism taskforce after Samba abuse - CNN.com
2012-03-23T16:33:30Z

(CNN) -- Russian football has been blighted by a series of high-profile incidents of racial abuse in recent times, an issue the country's soccer administrators are eager to address ahead of the FIFA World Cup arriving in 2018.
Global attention was drawn to the issue when veteran Anzhi Makhachkala full-back Roberto Carlos, a World Cup winner with Brazil in 2002, was subjected to abuse by both Zenit St. Petersburg and Krylya Sovetov fans.

As a result of the abuse, which included the former Real Madrid star having a banana thrown at him, both clubs were fined $10,000.

And racism in the Russian Premier League has been brought back into focus by events on Sunday, when Carlos' Congolese teammate Christopher Samba was subjected to the same form of abuse.

Samba, who moved to Anzhi from English Premier League side Blackburn Rovers last month, had a banana thrown at him from the VIP box of Lokomotiv Moscow's Lokomotiv Stadium.
"We are deeply disappointed with the idiotic episode that happened to our player Christopher Samba after the match at Lokomotiv," read a statement from the Dagestan-based team.
"We are assured that the representatives of the football authorities, the security service of Lokomotiv, will settle this issue and the guilty will be identified and punished."

An investigation into the incident was launched on Tuesday and the Russian Football Union (RFU) have now gone one step further by launching a dedicated anti-racism taskforce.
"The RFU's ethics committee has decided to create a special working group made up of members of the committee," the organization said on its website. The group will be tasked with battling "racism, xenophobia and extremism."

France-born defender Samba was upset by the incident and slammed the action as a poor example to young fans.

"I`m very upset that such misconduct took place in view of children who were sitting in those very stands. It can serve as a bad example for them.
"I try not to think about racism. I just want to believe that such problems do not exist on a global basis. Maybe I am mistaken but I do want to believe in it.
"As a rule any scandal of this kind is a result of a misconduct committed by one silly person. I don`t want to react to this."

The Russian Premier League vowed to hunt down the fan who had hurled the banana at the 27-year-old.

"Our aim is to find the man who threw banana at Samba," the league's security Alexander Meitin was reported to have said by AFP.

 

Whitecaps fans to give red card to racism, homophobia


BY TERRY BELL, POSTMEDIA NEWSMARCH 22, 2012
​

The Vancouver Whitecaps FC starting 11 against the Montreal Impact for their MLS game March 10, 2012 at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Photograph by: Jeff Vinnick, Getty Images
​

VANCOUVER — Soccer fans are going to be seeing an unusual number of red cards at this Saturday’s Vancouver Whitecaps home game against D.C. United.
The Southsiders, the Whitecaps 800-strong army of supporters, are planning to bring red cards with them to BC Place and will be showing them at the Major League Soccer match as a statement against racism and homophobia around the world and here in Canada.

“We’re going to hold them up right after the anthem,” Southsiders president Chris Deal said Thursday. “We’re against any kind of racist or homophobic remarks. We’re totally against that and this is our statement to say ’let’s stamp it out.’ ”

The cards will be held until the opening kickoff.

Deal said this soccer initiative — tied to March 21 being the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination — is being embraced by the Independent Supporters Council, a group that represents team supporter groups from around North America.

Deal said racism is still a big problem in parts of Europe.

“It’s very bad still in parts of Europe,” Deal said. “Supporters making monkey noises, it’s something I don’t like to see.”

In December Liverpool’s Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez was suspended for eight games for racially abusing Patrice Evra of Manchester United.

Deal credited the Screaming Eagles, a D.C. United supporter group, with the idea to make a statement with red cards.

“We picked up on it pretty early and thought it was something that we wanted to go ahead and do,” Deal said. “Some clubs don’t have home matches (this weekend) so they’ll be doing it next weekend.
“Every team is going to do it when they have an opportunity.”

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