The motivation is by no means sporty: calls for murder sounded from the stands. The UEFA delegates warned the Ukrainian fans, but to no avail. RFU now requires the Union of European Football Associations to investigate discrimination.
“This is unacceptable behavior, I hope that UEFA will open a disciplinary case and make a decision, since it is clear that sport should remain out of politics. We cannot call everything that happens in this semi-final other than an outrage,” says RFU Secretary General Alexander Alaev.
It was hardly football chants. Throughout the game, Ukrainian fans chanted inciting political statements – traces of the “orange revolution” at the stadium in the Netherlands.
But the Ukrainian players were satisfied with the behavior of their fans. Forward Yevgeny Sery called such support “crazy”, which does not even exist in big football. In fact, these are nationalist slogans that had to be jammed during the broadcast of the match.
“When I was commenting on the game, I heard insulting cries from the stands on the broadcast. We had to turn on the internoise to drown out the insulting cries,” said commentator Arkady Bely.
Such behavior is unacceptable, and according to the regulations, in such cases, the national associations of their countries must answer. They are responsible for the behavior of not only the players, but also the fans.
“It is necessary to respond to those antics – I would say not even fans and not fans, but groups of people – who came specifically to overshadow a beautiful sports match. The team was not supported, moreover, they will punish their team and the national football association with a fine” , – says Dmitry Svishchev, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports.
“We hope that this decision will be a serious punishment. I personally took part the day before in a joint meeting with the Ukrainian side, with UEFA, and we warned our colleagues that we expect that there may be provocations from Ukrainian fans. Unfortunately, everything about what we warned our colleagues happened, nevertheless, the guys coped with the pressure,” comments Alexander Alaev, Secretary General of the RFU.
With such serious psychological pressure, Russia defeated Ukraine, but a number of questions remained. For example, why is UEFA still silent, which upholds the principle “No to racism”, leaving provocations of Ukrainian fans unpunished?