MILAN: The Italian league has vowed to go “stadium by stadium” in its bid to eradicate racism from soccer in the country.
The season has been marred by constant episodes of racist chants and discriminatory behavior but Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo promised that the governing body is working on “dozens of initiatives.”
“Too little has been done before, almost nothing, now we’re facing it,” De Siervo said at a news conference at the Lega Serie A headquarters on Tuesday. “We need time to resolve it though. Football has to be an example.
“We’ll go stadium by stadium, sector by sector and identify these people to keep them out of there.”
Racist chants have recently been aimed at Romelu Lukaku, Franck Kessie, Dalbert Henrique, Miralem Pjanic, Ronaldo Vieira, Kalidou Koulibaly and Mario Balotelli. All the players targeted — except for Pjanic, who is Bosnian — are black.
“We’re working with what we have,” De Siervo said. “The aim is to go and take them one by one and ban them from the stadiums but to make sure that 10, 20, 30 people can’t ruin the image of a city, of a country.
“There are very real initiatives but I can’t tell you because we’re analyzing a lot of things ... we need to improve the regulations, lobby the government, create the conditions so we can have better instruments for the future. We also need to have campaigns with schools, in the media, campaigns that can give a direct and clear message.”
The one thing De Siervo does not want to see, however, is suspending matches for racist incidents.
“Personally, I’m against interrupting a game because it damages a whole system,” he said. “I understand the guys that are the target of this horrible thing ... but the aim is to intervene after the match, immediately, con severe sanctions.”
The press conference was hastily called after Italian media published an audio recording of De Siervo saying he had given the go-ahead for turning off microphones pointed at fans in stadiums to avoid television viewers hearing racist chants.
The audio was recorded on a mobile phone at a board meeting on Sept. 23 and leaked to Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
De Siervo defended his comments, saying he was trying “to avoid transforming certain people into heroes” and prevent “the risk of imitation.”
“Taking the microphone away from violent people is a well-known act,” he added. “We’re not blocking anything by this, the police, the referee and officials from the Italian Federation and the league have the duty to analyze all that ... but television does something else, it offers a spectacle.”
However, the Italian soccer federation has reportedly opened an investigation into De Siervo’s comments.
Italian league vows to be thorough to eradicate racism
Italian league vows to be thorough to eradicate racism
- The season has been marred by constant episodes of racist chants and discriminatory behavior
Marmoush, Salah strike as Egypt edge out holders Ivory Coast in quarter-final
- Egypt wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute
- That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance
AGADIR, Morocco: Omar Marmoush netted the opener and Mohamed Salah scored the decisive goal as Egypt ended Ivory Coast’s reign with a narrow 3-2 triumph in Saturday’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final.
Center back Rami Rabia was the other scorer for the Egyptians, who had little possession at the Grande Stade Agadir but took their chances with clinical precision and held on grimly to book a semifinal meeting with Senegal on Wednesday.
An own goal from Ahmed Fatouh and a late effort by Guela Doue proved insufficient for the Ivory Coast, winners of the tournament on home soil two years ago but now deposed as African champions.
Egypt, who have won a record seven Cup of Nations titles, wasted little time in taking the lead as Marmoush scored in the fourth minute after Hamdi Fathy pinched the ball from Franck Kessie in the midfield, allowing Emam Ashour to thread a pinpoint ball to the sprinting Marmoush. He still needed to shrug off the attentions of defender Odilon Kossounou before slotting home.
But it quickly became clear the Ivorians were going to dominate possession, showing much more physical strength on the ball but without setting up clear chances.
Egypt went 2-0 up in the 32nd minute when Rabia rose above the defenders to head his side further ahead from a corner.
The Ivory Coast, who had 70 percent of possession in the first half, reduced the deficit eight minutes later when teenager Yann Diomande’s freekick near the corner took a slight brush off Kossounou’s head and ricocheted off the knee of full back Fatouh and into the net.
SALAH FINISHED OFF CLEVER MOVE
The Ivorians had come from 2-0 down to beat Gabon 3-2 earlier in the tournament but hopes of turning the scoreline around soon after the re-start were stymied by a simply created, but superbly finished, goal for Salah seven minutes after the break.
Rabia was well inside his own half when he chipped the ball over the top of the Ivorian defensive line, allowing Ashour to run onto it and hit an accurate pass with the outside of his right boot into the path of Salah to score.
An Ivorian comeback was still on when Doue touched home at the end of a goalmouth scramble in the 73rd minute.
That set up a siege of the Egyptian goal in the final 15 minutes but they held out to advance.
Earlier on Saturday, Nigeria overpowered Algeria 2-0 in Marrakech and will take on hosts Morocco in the other semifinal.
