The boss of Turkish football club Trabzonspor "locked four match officials in the stadium overnight for failing to award his team a penalty, only to release them under escort from special forces after a phone call from President Tayyip Erdogan." Club President Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu "ordered Cagatay Sahan and his assistant officials to be detained" after Trabzonspor was denied the penalty in the dying minutes of the top flight tie with Gaziantepspor that ended in a 2-2 draw (REUTERS, 10/30). ... Charity group Culture Foot Solidaire said that African families "are handing their life savings to false agents who promise their sons a career with a European club but instead leave them abandoned on the street." Foot Solidaire Founder & President Jean-Claude Mbvoumin, a former Cameroon int'l, also warned that Africa "is awash with ramshackle," unlicensed football academies which exist primarily to prepare children for a move abroad. He said, "In Africa, you have thousands and thousands of academies for which the main goal is to transfer young players to Europe" (REUTERS, 10/30). ... Olympique Marseille President Vincent Labrune and Olympique Lyon President Jean-Michel Aulas were each handed a one-game suspension for their “rowdy declarations after the OM-OL match on Sept 20.” The club presidents engaged in a “war of words through the media after the controversial Olympico.” The Ligue 1 disciplinary commission decided upon “two suspended matches, with no access to the pitch, locker rooms and no official functions” (LE MONDE, 10/30).
BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Italian Football Federation (FIGC) President Carlo Tavecchio "is back in the eye of the storm after old antisemitic and homophobic statements resurfaced." He "was already in the spotlight last year for stereotyping African players as banana-eaters." Now il Corriere della Sera published an audio tape "from a conversation he held with" the website Soccerlife. Tavecchio "can clearly be heard damning Cesare Anticoli." Tavecchio refers to Anticoli as an "ebreaccio," pejorative for "ebreo," meaning Jew. Tavecchio: "I don't have anything against Jews, but it's best to keep them under control. Is it true that a former President of the FIGC was gay? I have nothing against homosexuals but keep them away from me, I am perfectly normal." Tavecchio, defending himself from accusations of racism and homophobia, stated, "I am clearly the victim of a blackmail attempt" (FOOTBALL ITALIA, 11/1).
