Fears over Euro 2012 being overshadowed by racism returned yesterday, after UEFA confirmed that there was racist chanting at the Netherlands' public training session this week in the Polish city of Krakow.
European football’s governing body, though, stopped short of launching a formal investigation, saying it had not received a formal complaint from the Dutch football federation (KNVB).
Mark van Bommel
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The revelations, which follow comments published yesterday from team captain Mark van Bommel in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, could not have come at a worse time for Euro 2012 organisers. Co-hosts Poland and Ukraine have already been forced to reject claims that racist violence is rife at their football grounds.
Van Bommel was quoted as saying: “We all heard the monkey chants. We can’t accept that. We reacted well (coach Bert van Marwijk took them to the other side of the pitch) and the situation was sorted.”
But he warned: “If any of us is targeted by monkey chants during our matches we won’t accept it. If we hear anything like that during a game, I’ll immediately go to the referee to ask him to intervene.” He also hit out at anyone who chooses to ignore racist chants. “You need to open your ears. If you hear them but don’t want to hear them, that’s worse,” he said. u00a0
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