EUFA Crack Down On Racist Abuse At Euro 2012......but not really.

[themn]

• By Oliver Holt​
• Comments​
• 7 Jun 2012 09:25​

Platini warns Euro 2012 players: Walk off if you suffer racist abuse and you'll be booked


Mario Balotelli has said he will leave the pitch if there are racists chants in Poland and Ukraine

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Warning: UEFA President Michel Platini says players will be booked if they walk off the pitch after suffering racist abuse

AFP​

Uefa boss Michel Platini last night warned Euro 2012 stars they would be punished if they walked off the pitch after suffering racist abuse.
Italy’s Mario Balotelli claimed last week he would stop playing if he became the target of racist chants in Poland and Ukraine.
But Platini said that far from being supported, the act of protest would be met with a caution.
“It is not Mr Balotelli who is in charge of refereeing,” Platini said. “It is the referee who takes these decisions.”
Then Platini checked with former referee Pierluigi Collina, who was sitting in the audience at a press conference at the National Stadium here.

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I am the law: Former Italian referee Pierluigi Collina

The FA via Getty​

“Yes,” Platini said, “if a player leaves the field on their own, it is a yellow card.”
Platini’s inflexible stance will dismay those who are already concerned that matches at the tournament could be marred by racism.
But the Uefa president was keen to stress that he would back referees if they decided to cancel a match because of persistent racist crowd abuse.
“I am hoping that eastern European fans will make this tournament a great celebration, not a problem,” Platini said.
“But we will stop the game if there are problems because I think racism is the worst of these.
“We have given referees the power to stop games temporarily if they see a problem like this and then to cancel the game definitively if the racism keeps rearing its head.
“If the game is stopped, the matter will be referred to our disciplinary committee and they have a zero tolerance policy.”

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Welcome to the Ukraine! Football fans show German Nazi flag

AP​

Platini brushed aside the fears of the families of Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who have decided not to travel to the tournament because of concerns for their safety.
He said there was as much racism in France and England as there was in Ukraine and that the issue was society’s problem, not football’s.
He also insisted clubs should not necessarily be punished because of the actions of their supporters.
“I do not see why a club should be responsible for its fans,” Platini said. “I do not see why we should take three points from a club and get it relegated because its fans commit an offence.
“That is why the best solution is to stop the game. It is a great debate.”
UEFA will ban the banners

Piara Powar, the executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), was confident UEFA would not hesitate to expel teams from the tournament if necessary.
"For us, the UEFA system is three strikes and you're out," he said. "Fine and then another fine and then a ban or forcing teams to play behind closed doors.
"If the system is in full effect, we could have a team kicked out of the competition for far-right banners."
He added: "There is no question we are worried about this tournament more than any other. I think Platini understands what is going on.
"There is actually a process in place where we have 31 independent international monitors. It is the job of these guys not to just look out for the obvious racism but the nuanced issues. It is certainly not the job of the referee to pick out banners and discriminatory chants."​

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[mark1975]

I'd like to see his reaction if our fans go off on one. He'll want our CL places reduced, etc, etc.. He's a horrible, corrupt, twat.

 

[refugee]

I was beginning to think I couldn't dislike him anymore...........

 

[the count]

Unfortunately all these football organisations are completely self serving and any attempts to weed racism out of football seem to be mere publicity stunts.
The FA are no better.

 

[Gerry_A_Trick]

He'd have a point, if the referees actually showed a sign that they may stop a game. There's not a hope in hell that would happen though.

 

[OLD_Lewy]

wow thats fucking absurd. is he going with the argument "racisms part of life fucking deal with it"?

 

[refugee]

wow thats fucking absurd. is he going with the argument "racisms part of life fucking deal with it"?

It's better than anything our lawyers came up with

 

[Judge Jules]

I see that twat Piara Powar is getting his oar in again BTW.

 

[Irish_Red]

Did Piara Powar have anything to say about Rio not getting picked ? as the way I see it he simply wasn't picked due to Terry.

 

[big ears]

The team should walk off
i wonder what they would do then

 

[Gerry_A_Trick]

The team should walk off
i wonder what they would do then

Depends on which team it was, but I imagine they'd throw them out and ban them for a few years. Unless it was Germany or France, in which case they'd give them a bye into the final.

 

[gkmacca]

The team should walk off
i wonder what they would do then

Absolutely.

 

[refugee]

England should leave FIFA and join the N.F. Board. They would have a much higher chance of winning things as well

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NF-Board

 

[themn]

England should have walked off the pitch that night in Madrid in' 04.

I suppose it would have made life tricky for Beckham.

 

[Vlads Quiff]

I am not a huge Platini fan, but I am not sure that he is corrupt to be honest, and I sympathise with the stance that players can not decide that they will leave the pitch, for whatever reason this creates all sorts of precedents. It's against the rules you can't leave the pitch without permission, and the rules are the rules.
I also sympathise with him that he inherited this crackpot idea of holding the finals where they have. That was not his fault, and I understand he was nit happy about it.
The judgement on Platini and UEFA needs to be taken as and when any unacceptable behaviour occurs, it is up to them to react and not the individual players, and if they don't then it is up to the associations via the Manager if necessary, and if that means pulling the team then that's what they do.

regards

 

[big ears]

I am not a huge Platini fan, but I am not sure that he is corrupt to be honest, and I sympathise with the stance that players can not decide that they will leave the pitch, for whatever reason this creates all sorts of precedents. It's against the rules you can't leave the pitch without permission, and the rules are the rules.
I also sympathise with him that he inherited this crackpot idea of holding the finals where they have. That was not his fault, and I understand he was nit happy about it.
The judgement on Platini and UEFA needs to be taken as and when any unacceptable behaviour occurs, it is up to them to react and not the individual players, and if they don't then it is up to the associations via the Manager if necessary, and if that means pulling the team then that's what they do.

regards

didnt he get suspended for cheating when he was a player

 

[Vlads Quiff]

I don't know but that does not put him in the Blatter category.


regards

 

[El Pistolero]

An example of platini's UEFA taking racism seriously this is from this year......

It was announced yesterday that Manchester City were to be fined €30,000 (£25,000) after taking to the field ‘up to 60 seconds’ late for the second half of Europa League tie against Sporting Lisbon in March.
A month earlier, the Premier League club complained to UEFA after two of its players, Mario Balotelli and Yaya Toure, were the victims of racial abuse from fans of their opponents, Porto, in the previous round of the same competition.
The decision from above regarding Porto’s punishment came earlier this week. They would pay a paltry €20,000 (£16,500) for their fans' crimes.

 

[Pesam]

didnt he get suspended for cheating when he was a player

I don't remember that. The only one I remember from that era who was suspended for cheating was the Belgian captain Eric Gerets.

 

[Silver Sean]

Unfortunately all these football organisations are completely self serving and any attempts to weed racism out of football seem to be mere publicity stunts.
The FA are no better.

Is right.

"Oh look we're in a five-star hotel in Geneva for 5 days. We'd better do something or it'll look like we're getting paid to do fuck all."
"How about using an anti-gravity ball and having 8 officials doing nothingl in each half."
"Like the Golden Snitch thingy from Harry Potter?"
"Yes. Yes. That's a great idea, no?"
"But not goal line technology"
"Fuck no."

Utter bell whiffs.

 

[Rouge Penguin]

Football is run by old twats, who have to keep other old twats happy. Wayne Rooney should run as a candidate next election, he's awesome at it.

 

[Rouge Penguin]

I wouldnt be shocked if a memo has gone out to the broadcasters to not show any hint of rascism though. Do they all use the same feed from the stadium and then relay it to own countries?

 

[Gerry_A_Trick]

I wouldnt be shocked if a memo has gone out to the broadcasters to not show any hint of rascism though. Do they all use the same feed from the stadium and then relay it to own countries?

Fairly sure there's only one feed, provided by the host nation, so needless to say we won't see any evidence of racism.

 

[Woland]

Players have always been booked for walking off the pitch, it's been in the rules for as long as I can remember.

And what about that utter bell whiff who played for Oldham crying his arse off over nothing at Anfield last season? Fucking get a grip.

 

[Vlads Quiff]

Players have always been booked for walking off the pitch, it's been in the rules for as long as I can remember.

And what about that utter bell whiff who played for Oldham crying his arse off over nothing at Anfield last season? Fucking get a grip.

Damn I meant to use that as an example in my post

regards

 

[Judge Jules]

Well, yes, but good came of it when Oldham FC came out with such a strong statement in support of our response just when we needed it. I seem to recall there was some quite pointed reference in it to the conduct of their neighbours in Salford.

 

[Woland]

But that was after it had been the main bit of news for a day, and every bellend in world football had been wheeled out to give an opinion on the crisis at Anfield.

 

[Vlads Quiff]

Barnsey should be given a role at Anfield, he speaks a lot of sense (only cos it's what I said mind)

FORMER Liverpool winger John Barnes has backed UEFA president Michel Platini’s controversial stance over racism in Euro 2012.
The Frenchman has said that any players who walk off the pitch during the tournament in protest at abuse from the stands will be booked.
“I 100 per cent back (Platini),” Barnes (inset) said.
“A player cannot arbitrarily decide he is receiving racial abuse and walk off.
“It wouldn’t be a problem to me because I am there to play football. If it is a problem then the authorities have to deal with it, players shouldn’t deal with it.”

Manchester City’s Mario Balotelli has threatened to leave the field if he’s subjected to racial abuse during Italy’s games but Barnes says the officials and the authorities should be left to tackle the issue.
“We have to get on with the football and let the authorities do whatever they, in terms of legislation, in terms of sanctions, in terms of what they are going to do,” he added.
“We can’t take it upon ourselves, we still have the laws of the game. What Michel Platini said is that the referee has the power to stop the game if he believes there has been racist abuse and therefore that the players need to go by the referee’s decision.
“You cannot arbitrarily as a player decide that because what you perceive racist abuse has come your way you are going to walk off.
“If then you say that every individual player can arbitrarily decide whether they are getting racist abuse or not then you could have five players walking off in every game because of what they have decided which is ridiculous.”

Read More http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/sport/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2012/06/09/former-liverpool-fc-winger-john-barnes-backs-michel-platini-s-controversial-racism-stance-100252-31145615/#ixzz1xJNom79S​

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I did not realise Brian Hall had retired, I had heard he had been ill, perhaps Digger should be given his job and make it a bit more high profile​

The game against Fulham this month offered up an opportunity for Anfield and the fans to express their thanks and pay tribute to one of the finest ambassadors to have worn the glittering red rouge of Liverpool Football Club.
Liverpool legend Brian Hall picked up an award from Ian Ayre, retiring upon completion of 28 years service to the Reds as both player and head of public relations.
His astute and studious nature and characteristics were reflected in the way he played the game at the heart of Bill Shankly's red revolution.
Diminutive in stature, Hall provided the energy and drive in the Liverpool engine room. Coupled with the dynamism was a calming influence on his fellow players as well as intelligent reading of games. It was enough to catch the attention of Shankly who earmarked Hall for a role amongst his stable of thoroughbreds.
After a debut in April 1969, Hall's big break had to wait two years, replacing the injured Ian Callaghan on the right side. Such an impression was made by the new boy that upon his recovery and return to the first team Shankly switched Callaghan to centre midfield in order to accommodate his new star.
Shankly preached simplicity, and Hall’s quantum theories were swapped for a philosophy of passing to the nearest red shirt and moving, passing to the nearest red shirt and moving. Shankly liked his players to stick to a routine until it became embedded within the self.
Hall, who starred for Liverpool during two prominent decades is remembered most fondly for giving Everton a bloody nose - his memorable winner against the Toffees was enough to take Liverpool back to Wembley for the first time since 1965.
Reminiscing the moment Hall said: "It's not so much me remembering my first-ever goal for Liverpool. I’m not allowed to forget it.
"To score it at Old Trafford in an FA cup semi final against Everton, and it turns out to be the winner, is not a bad memory. In fact, things don’t come much better than that do they?"
Liverpool lost the final thanks to Charlie George and a rampaging double winning Arsenal team, but three years later Hall tasted FA Cup glory, adding further silverware to the League Championship and UEFA Cup.
In 1976, after winning two First Division titles, an FA Cup, Charity Shield and two UEFA Cups, Hall transferred to Plymouth Argyle after losing his first team place to Jimmy Case. He also played briefly for Burnley and Northwich Victoria before taking up teaching.
In 1991 he returned to Anfield to head up the Public Relations department until his retirement.
The 65-year-old played 224 games and scored 20 goals for the Reds between 1969 and 1976 added: “This was something I didn’t expect. I was happy to just slip away and enjoy my retirement.
“It’s very special and I’d like to say a big thank-you to everyone at Liverpool Football Club, especially our wonderful supporters who have been with us for all these years.
“I’ve had the privilege of walking out on this pitch thousands of times.
“It’s been an incredible 28 years.”
Happy retirement Brian – you’ve earned it.

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[doctor_mac]

Barnsey should be given a role at Anfield, he speaks a lot of sense (only cos it's what I said mind)

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I did not realise Brian Hall had retired, I had heard he had been ill, perhaps Digger should be given his job and make it a bit more high profile​

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That's a good call Vlad.

 

[Judge Jules]

Agreed, though I can't help wondering whether some tosser(s) in the media would then accuse us of appointing him to rescue our image. Mind you, Digger himself would then get the chance to give them short shrift, which I reckon he would.