[blitzballer]

Happened during Hollands training practice before the tournament has even begun...

Euro 2012 was plunged into its first racism controversy after the black players in the Holland squad were subjected to monkey chants during an open practice session in the same city where England will also invite the public to watch them train on Friday.

Several hundred people targeted players such as Nigel de Jong and Gregory van der Wiel when 25,000 spectators attended the Dutch practice session at the Stadion Miejski, the home of Wisla Krakow.

The players, on the instructions of the captain, Mark van Bommel, responded by moving their training drills to the other side of the ground. "It is a real disgrace especially after getting back from Auschwitz [the Dutch squad had visited the concentration camp on Wednesday] that you are confronted with this," Van Bommel said. "We will take it up with Uefa and if it happens at a match we will talk to the referee and ask him to take us off the field."

The problems occurred as the players began the session by jogging a lap of the pitch only to be greeted at one end of the stadium with monkey noises and loud jeers. On the second circuit, they were even louder and it was then the players decided not to go around again. "At least now we know what we can encounter," the Holland coach, Bert van Marwijk, said with heavy cynicism. "Very atmospheric."

Uefa subsequently tried to deny that it was racially motivated, saying they had checked with the Dutch squad and had been told it was not thought to be of that nature. Instead, the official line is that a small part of the crowd was protesting about the fact that Krakow had not been made one of the host cities. Another theory that has been put forward is that Wisla's supporters did not want their stadium being used by anyone but their own club and were simply booing the Dutch players.

Van Bommel, however, responded angrily when it was put to him not everyone had heard monkey noises. "You need to open your ears," he said. "If you did hear it, and don't want to hear it, that is even worse."

Privately, the midfielder is understood to be unhappy that the authorities are not treating the issue more seriously, but the incident is still threatening to be a major embarrassment for Uefa, coming before a ball has even been kicked, and will increase the scrutiny on Poland's supporters when the tournament opens with the co-hosts playing Greece in Warsaw on Friday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...d-racist-abuse

Only going to get worse....

[Steve]

I would be interested to see how they intend to protect black players from this bullshit, but to be fair if I were payed what they are I could tolerate any sort of abuse the so called fans could muster.

[Faline]

Heard this on the news this morning

[Brometheus]

Originally Posted by Stevee ↗

I would be interested to see how they intend to protect black players from this bullshit, but to be fair if I were payed what they are I could tolerate any sort of abuse the so called fans could muster.

i dont think money would matter if you made it that far. they work hard to get where they are. at this point, they just want to win and let their hard work pay off, but it may just be harder for all of them because they have to deal with this shit psychologically. that's enough to throw anyone off their game.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Brometheus ↗

i dont think money would matter if you made it that far. they work hard to get where they are. at this point, they just want to win and let their hard work pay off, but it may just be harder for all of them because they have to deal with this shit psychologically. that's enough to throw anyone off their game.

Right or wrong it's part of being a professional footballer and they should get on with it, I am not saying it's right because of course it isn't, we had a black footballer over here who came out as being gay now imagine the abuse he took, rival supporters sing songs about players kids, wives and parents and they are offensive to say the least but they get on with it so black players should too, white players take the same shit just in a different way.

[gatagato]

They are paid enough to grow a thicker skin: it's not even racism, it's just one of the many forms of ignorance existing today, and a REAL football player knows which is the BEST way to defeat those assholes: play football as better as you can.

[Illusion]

Paying spectators pay good money to make whatever noise they want to make.

[DannyDrama]

Rooney will still get more monkey noises than the black players.

[Steve]

Good ole grandma shagging wing nut Rooney.

[DannyDrama]

Ah we remember Auld Slapper, don't we?