Holland Team subject to racial abuse

[saafend_seagull]

Other reports say it was an open training session watched by 20,000.

Sorry was referring to the English one today, meaning I can't see there being a problem for us and still don't believe this was true. They would have stopped training if 500 people were giving these taunts!

 

[itszamora]

What annoys me is...

"The Netherlands will make no official complaint over the alleged racist abuse of players during an open training session in Poland.

The matter is now considered closed, the Dutch FA told BBC Sport.

Uefa also said it had no plans to investigate the allegations."

Why the hell not? So what if nothing comes from it, least you've gone down the correct route. Ridiculous.

This is pissing me off as well. It gives credence to UEFA's ridiculous position that everything is fine. In fairness, if it did happen to England players, I would expect our FA to take a stronger line, after all they have complained several times when our black players have been abused abroad.

 

[Shooting Star]

How much racist abuse do the Poles have to dish out before you do withdraw your support for them?

This.

 

[Kumquat]

I've said it before, until someone makes a stand nothing will change. The dutch reaction annoyed me. Complained about it, but not officially therefore nothing gets done. But I honestly think we will see somebody make a stand at this tournament.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I've said it before, until someone makes a stand nothing will change. The dutch reaction annoyed me. Complained about it, but not officially therefore nothing gets done. But I honestly think we will see somebody make a stand at this tournament.

The Dutch are too relaxed about stuff. The French are my bet.

 

[Simster]

The Dutch are too relaxed about stuff. The French are my bet.

It'll be either Patrice Evra who always seems just moments away from a strop, or that flairmeister general, Ballotelli of Italy.

 

[Kumquat]

The Dutch are too relaxed about stuff. The French are my bet.

Yeah decent shout, pretty ironic too if it is France, a country where a fifth of the population voted for the Front Nationale too. Really hope we make a stand. Might be the most exciting thing we do all tournament!

 

[bravohotelalpha]

Also being reported that England fans attacked outside bar in Poland and the competition hasn't even begun yet .....

 

[Simon Morgan]

Cannot believe they haven't officially complained about this. And people wonder why racism is still such a big problem

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Just been listening to a radio report about this racial abuse of the dutch team. Apparently the England team is due to have a training session at the same stadium today .....

No, that was in Wisla's stadium in the city centre - England will train at Hutnik's ground in the suburb of Nowa Huta.

 

[severnside gull]

Poland is not some backwater. It is a vibrant country of hard working people with strong work and family ethics. Also after what their nation went through in the second world war and the persecution of the population I am surprised that certain groups do the same thing because of the colour of a person's skin. Still this happens all over the World unfortunately, but I am standing by the Poles and Ukranians until proven otherwise. I am sure 99% of the locals are fair minded people but it only takes the 1% to make this whole thing implode.

I have quite a lot of Polish friends whom I value greatly but as a generalism there is a tendency for their views on ethnicity to be some years behind what we might consider to be "appropriate" - certainly a more significant proportion of what we probably think of as National Front types (although let's at least be honest that we are far from being without problems of our own!). I'm not convinced that "football" (or most certainly the authorities represented at this tournament) is able, or has the will to, deal with the issues to any effect. The press reaction to potential problems was hardly difficult to predict but it will be the players who have to deal with the consequences and decide how to react and as ever they will be damned if they do and damned if they don't, especially with the likes of Sol "rentamouth" Campbell to stoke the flames. I have been singularly unimpressed with him in recent days - no issue with voicing concerns but he seems much more interested in self publicity via soundbites.

 

[SK1NT]

Great discussion on LBC (Radioplayer this now... Black listeners calling up saying they would stick to it and play even better... Stand up to it and don't let them win...

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Poland is not some backwater. It is a vibrant country of hard working people with strong work and family ethics. Also after what their nation went through in the second world war and the persecution of the population I am surprised that certain groups do the same thing because of the colour of a person's skin. Still this happens all over the World unfortunately, but I am standing by the Poles and Ukranians until proven otherwise. I am sure 99% of the locals are fair minded people but it only takes the 1% to make this whole thing implode.

If only. Being half Polish I hope it all dies down after a few morons have made their pathetic points, but I fear the worst.

The locals are indeed fair-minded, and many Krakowians are sophisticated, well-travelled and well-educated people - Krakow is the cultural heart of Poland, with two world-class universities. Unfortunately, there are too many people in what is still largely a monocultural society who find black or mixed-race people unusual and fair game for racist remarks.

My cousin by marriage, a lawyer, was over here on a course and stayed with us, and one evening he came out with an inexcusable racist remark about a black guy in his class. After being shocked that anyone in this day and age could even think such a thing, never mind say it, we eventually got it out of him that it was a literal translation of be something fairly commonplace in Poland. This, don't forget, was an educated guy from the professional classes, not some braindead idiot hanging around on a street corner looking for someone to blame for his lack of a life. We realised that he came from a society that is still where the UK was in the early 1970s, the days of Love Thy Neighbour. And there's anti-semitism too. There are still Poles who blame all their problems on the Jews, even though some German visitors in the 1940s made that claim largely redundant.

Some, indeed, are members of right-wing groups who have an agenda and want to draw attention to their pathetic beliefs. Others, sadly, just don't know any better. The huge numbers of Poles working here now should help the situation when they return home having lived in a multi-cultural society and worked alongside people of every background. There's been a vague hope that staging the Euros in Poland and Ukraine will also help, but my fear is that the only way that will happen is by dragging the racism out into the open and shaming large sections of the population into the 21st century.

 

[SK1NT]

I sit next to two polish people one from Krokow and she reckons that the media are over hyping this racism stuff and refuses to believe it... Just because she is in the minority of being more open to different ethnicities....

As much as the media does like to hype and dramatise things i feel this isn;t one of those cases.

 

[Easy 10]

The sweep-it-under-the-carpet attitude of the authorities there was best illustrated when the Panorama journalist showed the Ukrainian chief of police the footage of hundreds of fans in the stadium giving the nazi salute. Apparently this wasn't a nazi salute at all - they were just "pointing at the opposition fans".

I can only assume that the opposition fans were sitting on the stadium roof.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

The Dutch haven't made an official complaint? So they just moved over to the other side of the pitch and that's that?

UEFA not investigating?

Brilliant. That'll send the right message out......

 

[leigull]

The sweep-it-under-the-carpet attitude of the authorities there was best illustrated when the Panorama journalist showed the Ukrainian chief of police the footage of hundreds of fans in the stadium giving the nazi salute. Apparently this wasn't a nazi salute at all - they were just "pointing at the opposition fans".

I can only assume that the opposition fans were sitting on the stadium roof.

That was one of the most shocking parts of the whole programme. How he could stand there and say that was beyond belief

 

[itszamora]

UEFA have now at least admitted there was racist chanting: BBC Sport - Euro 2012: Uefa confirms towards Dutch

[MENTION=10202]Not Andy Naylor[/MENTION]'s comments above are quite worrying. I hope he's wrong, but unfortunately he's far better placed than most of us to know what things are like there.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

I sit next to two polish people one from Krokow and she reckons that the media are over hyping this racism stuff and refuses to believe it... Just because she is in the minority of being more open to different ethnicities....

Absolutely. As I've said above, Krakow is a relatively cosmopolitan and liberal city where you're less likely to encounter these things. But even there ...

 

[Stat Brother]

The Dutch haven't made an official complaint? So they just moved over to the other side of the pitch and that's that?

UEFA not investigating?

Brilliant. That'll send the right message out......

Is there any footage of the level of racial abuse.
Yes yes I know 1 incident is 1 too many.
But by the same token a few morons in a crowd of thousands, is just representative of the world over.

I find it hard to believe the Dutch won't back their players, unless we are back to mountains and mole hills.