Emmanuel Frimpong was the victim of a double injustice while playing for Russian side FC Ufa last week.
Firstly, the former Arsenal man was racially abused by the Spartak Moscow fans throughout the opening half hour of the game, who made monkey chants eache time Frimpong touched the ball.
And then when Frimpong understandably reacted to the abuse, he was shockingly sent off, which exposed once again the Russian FA’s willing ignorance of its racism problem.
Frimpong has appallingly been banned for two games by the Russian FA, while the Spartak Moscow fans who racially provoked him have gone completely unpunished.
That miscarriage of justice has been met with disappointment by FIFA, who have asked the Russian FA to explain how they came to this conclusion.
With the next World Cup taking place in Russia, FIFA are now clearly concerned, with FIFA representative Federico Addiechi commenting:
“We don’t have a direct responsibility for what’s happening in the Russian league.
“But if the Russian Football Union are in need of our support, and I think they are, then we can provide certain support.”
“It is up to us as the organizers of this event to make sure this event is welcoming everyone, it is safe for everyone — not just for the players and participants but also for the fans.
“It would be naive and first of all too arrogant for us to come here and say we are going to educate Russia. We are in no position to do that, we don’t need to do that, we have no moral statute to do that either.”
No comments:
Post a Comment