Milan wants soccer powers to act on racism

AC Milan has called for soccer's authorities to take an official stand against racism in the sport as the controversy surrounding Kevin-Prince Boateng's walk-off continued on Sunday.

Boateng hit the headlines last week when he responded to racist chants by a small group of fans during a friendly against fourth division side Pro Patria by storming off the pitch.

He was followed by his teammates, prompting a global outpouring of applause for the German-born Ghanaian international's decision.

World soccer's ruling body, FIFA, is yet to make an official statement about the incident, but in an interview from the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said Boateng was "wrong" to have walked off the pitch.

FIFA and UEFA have previously warned against players walking off the pitch in protest, and Blatter told The National newspaper: "Walk off? No. I don't think that is the solution.

"I don't think you can run away. This issue is a very touchy subject, but I repeat there is zero tolerance of racism in the stadium; we have to go against that."

Milan reacted quickly, declaring: "AC Milan reiterates its firm stance against racism, in whatever shape or form, and calls on the national and international sports bodies to adopt and implement necessary and effective measures."

In the wake of the Boateng incident some observers, including former AC Milan star Clarence Seedorf, had warned the decision to leave the pitch threatened to "empower" a racist minority.

At Rome's Olympic stadium on Saturday Seedorf's fears rung true when some sections of Lazio's crowd were heard making monkey noises at Cagliari's Colombian striker Victor Ibarbo.

Although the majority of the home crowd jeered and whistled to drown out the racists, Cagliari's Director General Francesco Marroccu was eventually forced to inform the fourth official.

The referee halted play momentarily to speak to both team captains and order a message to be relayed over the public address system to warn fans the game would be suspended if the chants continued.

Lazio went on to win 2-1, but this latest incident threatens to reinforce the Rome-based side's reputation for harboring fans with far-right sympathies.

Earlier this season, Lazio was fined for racist chanting in a Europa League game against Tottenham - the English club with arguably the biggest Jewish support in the Premier League.

Upon seeing television pictures of Saturday's game, Boateng posted on Twitter: "Sad to see these racist chants 2 days after @KPB official leads #ACMilan off pitch after receiving similar abuse. very sad!!!"

Lazio president Claudio Lotito claims he has "worked hard" to prevent such behavior on the part of fans since taking over at the club, but could not vouch for every individual supporter.

He said: "Lazio is always singled out as a racist club, which is not true; we have several black players in our team.

"However we can't control the actions of individual supporters. I can't put a policeman on every fan when there are 30,000 in the stadium."

(China Daily 01/08/2013 page22)