Racism in football

[Guest Bilo]

After the appalling scenes in Serbia tonight, what should happen to Serbia?

I'm going to keep my views to myself for now, just wondered what the FT consensus was.

[purpleronnie]

ban the feckers

[marko]

Ban them, they're serial troublemakers!

Although I have no doubt that they'll be hit with some pathetic fine!

[Corky]

Ban.

[dave_the_fox]

The whole scenario makes me laugh, if it happened in this country or by England fans you can guarantee we would be banned from the next tournament.

However, seeing as it was by the Serbs, they will get fined £300 and a pack of skittles

[Guest MattP]

Need to know the details before before making a proper decision but I'm uncomfortable with football behind closed doors or bans as it punishes a lot of people who will have had nothing to do with it.

[Corky]

Need to know the details before before making a proper decision but I'm uncomfortable with football behind closed doors or bans as it punishes a lot of people who will have had nothing to do with it.

But clubs who go into administration are punished and it's not the fans fault.

It will punish some who aren't involved but something needs to be done. Small fines are no deterrent.

[Guest MattP]

I realise that mate but something makes me uncomfortable about it.

Can anyone really give a good reason as to why the Serbiam national team should be banned from the 2014 World Cup on the actions of a few fans and under 21 players?

[Kitchandro]

It's not the team's fault the fans are racist but it is their fault for starting a brawl. That alone should invite severe punishment.

I'm afraid countries like Serbia are full of racists so banning them from tournaments doesn't really address the problem. They rarely qualify anyway.

There are numerous countries who you could ban on the same grounds but the Serbs are one of the worst culprits for kicking off whether it's racially related or otherwise.

Playing all senior and U21 home games behind closed doors is probably fairer than a ban.

[Corky]

I realise that mate but something makes me uncomfortable about it.

Can anyone really give a good reason as to why the Serbiam national team should be banned from the 2014 World Cup on the actions of a few fans and under 21 players?

They've been threatened with a ban before though, so this isn't the first time incidents have happened.

Possibly behind closed doors is a better solution, so the players (who are most important) still get to compete.

[ScouseFox]

I realise that mate but something makes me uncomfortable about it.

Can anyone really give a good reason as to why the Serbiam national team should be banned from the 2014 World Cup on the actions of a few fans and under 21 players?

Weren't every English football team was banned from European competitions for 5 years after the action of some fans at Heysel? Pretty sure that was UEFA. They didn't seem too bothered about the innocent parties missing out on football then...

[Father Ted]

However, seeing as it was by the Serbs, they will get fined £300 and a pack of skittles

Pretty much everybody on here knows that I'm a Serb so I'm going to structure my words carefully. Firstly, I have to agree with MattP's thoughts, why should they punish the first team for the Under-21's actions?

Having watched the match and seen most of the incidence... one major piece of evidence that is missing is what happens between the England players being pelted by coins and then the brawl breaking out - and why Danny Rose was mainly the focal point of attack and why he received a red card. Until then I'm not going to comment on it and until I actually see/hear visual evidence of racial remarks I won't comment on that aspect too.

On another note, there are major hooliganism issues in Serbia and most are protected by the police. We aren't the only ones and this won't be the first time I say it but we always come under major scrutiny from the media in this country in comparison to certain other countries.

[MrFox781]

Point deductions?

[Guest Bilo]

I can see where you're coming from on the massive scrutiny FT, the racism seen in some major European nations such as Spain and Italy is pretty horrendous.

The problem though is that Serbia do have very, very serious 'form' for racism and hooliganism in recent years. It's completely out of control in Serbia itself as you allude to, possibly worse than it was here in the 1980s, and it's a wonder more aren't killed in matches in Serbia. A massive shake-up is needed there to wake up the authorities and force them to fight hooliganism as we were forced to after Heysel, playing behind closed doors for the remainder of the WC2014 qualifiers wouldn't be heavy handed in my view.

[Guest Bilo]

Point deductions?

The problem with that is the impact is limited, which is why I didn't include it.

The troubles seem to lie primarily with the fans and the FA rather than the FA, and I have worries about points deductions being imposed for off-the-field incidents. If we're talking mass or systemic breaches of discipline on the pitch then deduct points, but monkey chanting is better tackled by punishing the fans responsible.

[leicsmac]

Because they have previous, matches behind closed doors seems reasonable to me.

A ban would be too heavy-handed at this stage IMO, however FIFA should give a warning that any future incidents like this would result in a ban. So...BCD matches and final warning for me.

[ADK]

Make them follow an action plan to ban the fans that are responsible like what has happened over here.

[Stuliasz]

Give them the next World Cup...

[Guest BlueBrett]

Closed doors for the rest of the qualifiers and a fine. Also the entire back room staff need sacking and a fair few of those under 21 players should get lengthy bans but I imagine they are issues for the Serbian FA to deal with.

[Guest MattP]

Weren't every English football team was banned from European competitions for 5 years after the action of some fans at Heysel? Pretty sure that was UEFA. They didn't seem too bothered about the innocent parties missing out on football then...

That was completely wrong as well.

Though let's face what the Liverpool fans did that night and caused is a hundred times worse than any racist abuse fans can throw.

[Father Ted]

I can see where you're coming from on the massive scrutiny FT, the racism seen in some major European nations such as Spain and Italy is pretty horrendous.

The problem though is that Serbia do have very, very serious 'form' for racism and hooliganism in recent years. It's completely out of control in Serbia itself as you allude to, possibly worse than it was here in the 1980s, and it's a wonder more aren't killed in matches in Serbia. A massive shake-up is needed there to wake up the authorities and force them to fight hooliganism as we were forced to after Heysel, playing behind closed doors for the remainder of the WC2014 qualifiers wouldn't be heavy handed in my view.

England is comfotably the best place in Europe for anti-racism/lack of racism on the terraces. A prime example is Croatia - their fans often seen doing the sieg heil arm movements yet only receives serious coverage in other countries and the odd little article in The Sun here and there.

In my opinion, racism is down to a lack of education and hence why it's so common in Eastern European countries in general. The hooliganism is a lot different to that in Britain in the 1980's, these are linked to serious gangs - not just firms but gangs that run cities and all sorts of trades and have alliances with different police branches. The 'gangs' are also spread across various sports too - basketball, handball, youth matches as football teams also have direct teams in these sports and so it is a lot harder to manage and control than it was here in the 1980's especially when the police who are the main force who could be stopping it, are actually in on it and this is often the case in most of these countries unfortunately.

[Guest Bilo]

Give them the next World Cup...

That'll only work if they have oil mate.

[NorthernFox]

I realise that mate but something makes me uncomfortable about it.

Can anyone really give a good reason as to why the Serbiam national team should be banned from the 2014 World Cup on the actions of a few fans and under 21 players?

10,000 crowd attended today and the scenes tonight look pretty bad for 2012. No need for a total ban on the national team as of yet but a HUGE fine should be forthcoming. Boot on the other shoe....

[Simmo86]

Ban them. Repeated offenders.

Fans might learn to behave when they don't get to see their side playing in major tournaments.

[marty78]

I voted for a ban but I did actually think I was voting for a ban for the under 21's.

I think at some stage countries whose fans repeatedly offend, whether that be Serbia or elsewhere, have to receive much harsher punishments than those handed out for many recent incidents, small fines have obviously failed to get the message across. I think that by facing International bans, including their club sides in European competition, football federations would soon get the issue under greater control (at least within stadiums) and hopefully that will begin with pressure from their own fans who will get pissed off with small groups ruining their enjoyment of the sport.