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International Football

UEFA Mulls Allowing Only Women, Kids In Stadiums As Punishment For Racism

UEFA President Michel Platini "is mulling whether to allow only women and children into matches rather than completely closing stadiums as punishment for supporters' racist abuse," according to Rob Harris of the AP. The European body "could emulate rules introduced by Turkey's football association in 2011 that allow only women and children under 12 into games involving teams sanctioned for unruly fan behavior." Such a change to sanctions "would require approval from within UEFA." UEFA Chief of Press Pedro Pinto said, "The president is always looking at ways we could improve our rules and regulations. Just yesterday we discussed the possibility of inviting women and children for free instead of closing the stadium completely. It was done in Turkey a few years ago and it had a really positive effect on football. Obviously this would need to be discussed further before being properly proposed, but it is an idea for possible sanctions in order to avoid empty stadiums." Despite the presence of around 300 spectators, Pinto "highlighted how the hosts did not gain financially." Pinto said, "If we say it's behind closed doors, then it's supposed to be behind closed doors to the general public, but there are always tickets given to VIPs, UEFA staff and sponsors. Our sponsors and partners pay a lot of money to be associated with the competition and are contractually entitled to receive a number of tickets" (AP, 10/22). In London, James Ducker wrote Man City captain Vincent Kompany believes it is "unacceptable" that there were Russian Premier League side CSKA Moscow fans present at their Champions League tie "for what was supposed to be a game played behind closed doors." About 300 CSKA fans "were inside to the Arena Khimki to watch the Russian champions come from two goals down to claim a point that deals a severe blow to City's hopes of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stage." CSKA "was supposed to be playing the first of three matches in an empty stadium as punishment for the latest racist behaviour of their fans." Yet tickets that had been allocated to sponsors "appeared to find their way into the hands of supporters" (LONDON TIMES, 10/22). The BBC reported Kompany said Man City "had been punished unfairly after the game was played in a near-empty stadium, with fans banned over previous CSKA disturbances." Kompany: "Why the hell do we not have any fans here? What have our fans done wrong? There's no fairness in it. You say no fans, all of a sudden you turn up and the team who has no fans is Man City. So who's getting punished? Who's being done for racism, Man City or Moscow?" CSKA Media Dir Sergey Aksenov said, "Those people you are talking about are 360 people from the UEFA Champions Club -- partners, sponsors. If they are CSKA fans they are good for us. Everyone is invited by UEFA, not CSKA" (BBC, 10/22). In London, Jamie Jackson wrote as UEFA allocates up to 300 tickets for sponsors there were rumors that "these plus some of the 150 media tickets had been given or sold to fans of CSKA with sources at the governing body admitting they had no control regarding where these ultimately ended up." Some of the “fans” appeared particularly inebriated, "with one man falling down drunk on the stroke of half-time." Leonid Slutsky was reluctant to discuss the episode, stating he was “only the CSKA coach” (GUARDIAN, 10/22).

IN DENIAL: REUTERS' Mike Collett wrote Football Against Racism in Europe Exec Dir Piara Power said that Russian President Vladimir Putin "must demand an end to the racism" plaguing Russian football and the country should stop denying it has a problem. Power, who is a member of FIFA's Anti-Discrimination Task Force, "stopped short of calling for Russia to be stripped of hosting the 2018 World Cup but feared an African team could walk off the field at those finals unless action was taken now." Power: "I think the time has come for President Putin and also for the Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, to come out publicly and say enough is enough. This has got to stop. If Putin and Medvedev don't come out and talk about these things in a very explicit way we won't see the changes we need to see" (REUTERS, 10/22).

EBOLA OUTBREAK
: The Confederation of African Football "slammed" Platini for "interference" in the scheduling of the African Nations Cup held in Morocco in January. Platini "questioned whether the tournament should be postponed due to the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, with Morocco already having requested it to be moved." However, CAF "reacted angrily" to the suggestions and insisted that UEFA should respect its ''sovereignty" (ESPN, 10/22).

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