Netherlands players claim they heard monkey chants from the crowd at a Euro 2012 training session at Wisla Krakow’s stadium, adding another one to Euro 2012 racism woes already casting shadow over the near carnival atmosphere in Poland and Ukraine.
Karakow / NationalTurk – Holland manager Bert van Marwijk, Dutch team officials and assembled Netherland press did not hear any racist abuse with monkey chants during Wednesday’s training session but it has since emerged that a handful of the squad ( black players) did.
Euro 2012 starts with racism woes, ignited by British media
Euro 2012 allegedly was plunged into its feared first racism controversy according to British press, which seems to wait eagerly for a racism incident to occur. Black players in the Holland squad claim to be subjected to monkey chants during an open training session in Krakow the same city where England team will also have training sessions open to public on Friday.
‘ Some of our players did hear some monkey noises. That is why they moved to the other side of the pitch, ‘ a Dutch spokeswoman said.
But immediately after Wednesday’s training session, Holland coach Van Marwijk praised the gathered crowd by telling reporters the atmosphere was fantastic with over 30,000 Poles turning up just to watch Holland squad at training.
Holland black players : Alleged Monkey chants from Krakow fans
Krakow is not staging any matches. Wisla Krakow fans from the Polish city of Krakow are known to be the fiercest among Polish football fans. They are also known as the most hooliganistic of the Polish football fans .
The build-up to the tournament being co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine was dominated by worries about racism among home fans.
UEFA president Michel Platini, under pressure after boldly handing the tournament to the two countries, said players should let the referee handle racist abuse after some players indicated they would walk off the pitch if it occurred in matches.
Euro 2012 Racism claims : Diplomatic crisis between England and Ukraine, now Poland is part of it too
The Polish and Ukrainian governments have worked hard to try to dispel any fears of racism but a BBC documentary suggested it was prevalent among certain fan groups.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK has meanwhile dubbed a Panorama programme on racism in Ukraine “biased and unfair” and stated he regrets the British government’s Euro 2012 group stage boycott.
World Cup runners-up Netherlands, who have a number of black players, open their Euro 2012 Group B campaign against Denmark in Ukraine’s Kharkiv on Saturday while England and France will open the Euro 2012 with a game against each other on 12th June in Group D.
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