Danny Rose Subjected to Abuse in Serbia

Danny Rose

The announcement of Lazio’s fine for their fans racist abuse during the Europa League game at White Hart Lane, comes two days after similar behaviour in Serbia during and after the Under-21 European Qualifying match between Serbia and England where the black England players were subjected to a constant barrage of chants during the match. Further trouble escalated as the England players celebrated after scoring a last minute winning goal with stones and missiles being thrown at them with continuous chanting and whistling. The England players and staff were faced with players and spectators punching and spitting at them as they tried to leave the pitch. It was at this point that Tottenham’s Danny Rose, on loan with Sunderland, kicked the ball into the crowd in frustration, having taken the racist abuse throughout the match. Rose, then received a second yellow card and was sent off after the match had finished. As he left the pitch, Rose indicated by his gestures that he had been abused by the fans.

Danny Rose is protected by Andros Townsend in Serbia

The Serbian FA has been charged by UEFA for the racist chanting of their fans and the improper conduct of their players. The Football Association has also been charged over the behaviour of the England players. The Serbian FA, however, issued a statement denying that the post-match scuffles were caused by racist behaviour and pointed the finger of blame at Danny Rose, accusing him of inciting the spectators. They said that Danny Rose behaved in an inappropriate, unsportsmanlike and vulgar manner towards the supporters.

"“I had two stones hit me in the head when  I went to get the ball for a throw in. Every time I touched the ball, they were doing the monkey chanting again. I think they have to be banned.”"

The Serbian FA are now clearly attempting to discredit Rose’s claims and are trying to make him the instigator of the trouble. They have issued a video containing footage of Rose in action at various moments in the game, with no apparent evidence of racist abuse aimed at him. The trouble at the end had been omitted and the video has been greatly edited.

There is a long list of crimes against Serbia dating back to 2000 when the current national team manager, Sinisa Mihajlovic, was banned for two matches for racially abusing Patrick Vieira when playing for Lazio against arsenal in a UEFA Cup tie. In 2010, a match between Italy and Serbia was abandoned after six minutes due to trouble from the travelling fans.

UEFA regularly fail to take appropriate action against clubs and countries whose fans continue to hurl racist abuse at opponents.

• They fined Porto £16,700 for their fans racist abuse against Manchester City’s Mario Balotelli last season.
• Croatia were fined £10,000 when some of their fans displayed a racist banner and were guilty of racist behaviour at Euro 2008 in a match against Turkey.
• Serbia were fined £16,500 in 2007 when their fans racially abused England’s Nedum Onuoha at the Under-21 Championships in Holland.

UEFA and FIFA turn a blind eye to racist behaviour and until they take drastic action to deal with it, it will continue unchecked. Last summer’s Euro 2012 Championships were held in Poland where it was feared that teams could face abuse and FIFA are taking the World Cup in 2018 to Russia, another country where they have problems with racist abuse. Football’s two ruling bodies need to stand up and show they mean business by imposing a ban on countries whose fans continue to be found guilty of racist abuse. Paul Ince whose son, Tom, was a member of England’s Under-21 team in Serbia advocated that Serbia be banned from the next five tournament, in effect a ten tear ban. Only with such stern action is their any hope of the problem being eradicated.