racism in football

Fans back idea of points deductions to curb racism in football

The idea of deducting points from countries or clubs whose fans are found guilty of racist abuse has the backing of nearly two thirds of football supporters, according to a new survey on Wednesday.

In the study of 27,000 fans from 38 countries -- conducted by anti-racism group Kick It Out and live-score app Forza Football -- 60% of respondents said they would support points deductions, while 54% of supporters said they had witnessed racist abuse while watching a game.

Docking points from a team could include instances such as Chelsea's Champions League clash against Paris Saint-Germain in 2015, where traveling fans of the English Premier League club physically stopped a man from getting on the Paris metro, suggested the survey's organizers.

in the past, football teams have had points deducted for a range of transgressions, including insolvency, financial problems, fielding ineligible players and match-fixing, but not racism. Sulley Muntari: Racism happens every game

Sulley Muntari: Racism happens every game 03:31

"The governing bodies, including The FA, UEFA and FIFA, must do more to promote methods of reporting racism and they must listen to supporters' demands," said Lord Ouseley, chairman Kick It Out.

"Clubs or countries whose supporters are racially abusive should face harsher sanctions, including points deductions."

The survey found that only 28% of fans know how to appropriately report racist incidents. That figure is as low as 13% in Arabic countries.

A spokesperson from The FA, English football's governing body, told CNN that "we encourage all fans and participants who believe that they have been the subject of, or witness to, discriminatory abuse to report this through the appropriate channels: The FA, our County FA network or via our partners at Kick It Out."  

Ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, FIFA announced a "dedicated anti-discrimination monitoring system" that enabled referees to stop, suspend or abandon a match if racist or discriminatory chanting took place.

This came after the Russian Football Union was fined $28,000 for racist chanting by fans during a friendly against France in March.

               

Source News : CNN