From racist chants to a Nazi flag

Last week the Russian football fans distinguished themselves again. In Yaroslavl the match of the Russian Cup between the local football club Shynnik and Spartak Moscow was stopped because of the fight between Spartak’s fans and the OMON. At the beginning of the second half a fan ran to the pitch. Then Spartak’s fans started burning fusees at the stands and the referee stopped the match. After that the fans started throwing plastic seats to the OMON. What is surprising is that there was an unfolded flag of Nazi Germany at Spartak’s stands.

The photo of the flag was published by the edition Sovetskiy Sport and the website sports.ru. According to the disciplinary regulations of the Russian Football Union (RFS) the public demonstration of Nazi symbols can be punished with a fine of 50 to 200 thousand rubles. Besides, the guilty club can be penalized by playing one to three matches on a neutral pitch or without spectators. The guilty club is the one whose fans violate the regulations. By default, the spectators at Spartak’s stands are considered as the supporters of this team – lenta.ru.

We remind our readers that it all happened after another Russian football club CSKA was punished for racist chants of its fans during the match against Manchester City. The UEFA disciplinary committee ordered to close one of the Stands at Khimki Arena stadium for the next match of the Champions League with the participation of CSKA FC. After the match one of Manchester City players Yaya Toure, the citizen of Cote d’Ivoire claimed that he was furious because of the Moscow club’s fans. Following this incident, the executive director of FARE (the organization tackling racism and Nazism in the European football) Piara Powar wrote an article to the British edition The Guardian in which he opined that boycotting the World Championship of 2018 in Russia could be a very appropriate reaction to racist insults of CSKA fans.

So far UEFA has not reacted to the incident in Yaroslavl. However, probably, measures should be taken the more that UEFA punished Ukraine banning to play matches with the participation of the Ukrainian national team at the Lviv stadium because the local fans demonstrated UPA flags (the UPA fought for the independence of Ukraine against both Soviet and German troops).

I wonder what FARE will do with this blatant incident when a real Nazi flag was unfolded at the stadium. What is more, after the racist actions of the Russian fans in Manchester Powar emphasized the fact that the governments should carry out the educational work as it is the only way to change the behavior of fans.

“In some eastern European countries we have seen complex political and historical allegiances associated with the far-right which can find expression among neo-Nazi and other extreme football fan groups, and on Wednesday night in Moscow we saw a banner in support of Golden Dawn, the Greek far-right party whose leaders are currently being prosecuted for very serious offences. We have found out that some clubs encourage these fans, giving them tickets, even paying them, to create noise and lead chants in stadiums. We need governments, in Russia, across Eastern Europe, and elsewhere, to engage fully with this – not just clamp down, but bring forward social and educational programs to work with supporters. We need international bodies working across nation states to make tackling intolerance in sport a priority,” Powar emphasized.

“If not enough is done, if we don’t see the social change needed and the type of incidents we are seeing persist, then players like Yaya Toure of African heritage would be absolutely within their rights to refuse to play at the World Cup. This abuse has been going on for three generations of players and it seems they are not prepared to put up with it anymore,” the executive director of FARE wrote at the end of his article.

Let us hope that FIFA and UEFA will make equally tough declarations concerning the incident with a Nazi flag in Yaroslavl.