UEFA chief executive Gerhard Aigner, addressing the Unite Against Racism conference, said here on Wednesday that racism was an evil and a poison and should be eradicated from football.
One of the most influential men in the sport’s European governing body added the sport had an obligation to rid itself of the problem — and he stressed the importance of sanctions against offenders.
Speaking at the conference staged at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium here Aigner suggested it made more sense to make a team play a match behind closed doors rather than imposing fines.
”The best response to a major incident is to stop (those found guilty) of attending a match,” he said. This punishment was handed down to Slovakia, who must play Liechtenstein on April 2 before empty stands after racist incidents at their Euro 2004 qualifier in Bratislava on October 12 against England.
Wednesday’s conference was organised jointly by UEFA, the pan-European Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network and the English Football Association (FA).
Aigner told delegates from the 52 UEFA-affiliated national football federations: ”We bear a special and particular responsibility…to utilise our work and our sport for the good of society as a whole.
”For me, this is the context in which we must view racism. It is an evil and a poison which sadly afflicts many societies on our continent.
”Sometimes it is hidden, sometimes it is open, often it is institutionalised, more often than not it is neither understood nor recognised.
”It is a problem which is created and stimulated outside of football, but which is often given expression and public focus through our game.”
England was chosen to host the meeting as the FA’s progress on stamping out racism through its ”Kick It Out” campaign had been ”exemplary”, Aigner noted.
Conference organiser Piara Power said that racism in the English game was much less a factor now than it had been in the 1970s or 80s.
”But even so it’s still an insidious evil, and that’s why we’re encouraging fans to mention any racist incident,” he warned. Despite the FA’s push to get rid of the problem it emerged at the conference that funding for its racism programme, estimated at 75 000 pounds, may have to be ”reconsidered” due to the FA’s financial difficulties, FA director David Davies revealed. – Sapa-AFP