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Subscribe to RSSThe British government has called for Serbia's national soccer team to face sanctions for racial abuse against its players. NBC's Karl Bostic reports.
Britain's government has written to European soccer authorities demanding "tough sanctions" against Serbia after racist chants - including monkey noises - were heard at an international match with England on Tuesday night.
Abuse was hurled at black members of the England Under-21 team in Krusevac, Serbia, according to England officials. The match ended in a series of angry tussles between players on on both sides.
Monkey chants, which the England team captain said came from Serb supporters, were audible on above ambient crowd noise.
British sports Minister Hugh Robertson said Wednesday the scenes at the end of the game were "disgraceful."
"I have written to [Union of European Football Associations] President Michel Platini ... urging them to investigate immediately," he said.
Trouble quickly escalated when Serbia's players and officials started attacking their England counterparts, in scenes broadcast on a British sports channel.
A video clip, unverified by NBC News, appears to show monkey noises audible from the crowd at Tuesday night's U21 soccer match between England and Serbia
The monkey chants could clearly be heard in clips uploaded to YouTube as black England defender Danny Rose was penalized for kicking the ball into the crowd in frustration. It was not clear where the noise had come from.
Read more on this story at ITV News
Rose, who had been standing apart from the main group of players after trouble broke out, mimicked a monkey by sticking his arms underneath his armpits to demonstrate the racial nature of the abuse he could hear.
A spokesman for Britain's Prime Minister, David Cameron, said he was "appalled" at the scenes, while Rose's father told ITV News he wanted Serbia banned from European soccer.
In a statement, England Under-21 captain, Jordan Henderson, said: "There was a lot of racist abuse out there from the stands. There was also stones, coins and seats getting thrown at us.”
The Football Association of Serbia also issued a statement, placing the blame on Rose, who, they said, behaved "in inappropriate, unsportsmanlike and vulgar manner towards the supporters on the stands at the stadium in Krusevac."
Serbian player Milos Ninkovic, left, and England's Danny Rose, right, and Craig Dawson, center, clash during the match.
The statement went on to say: “FA of Serbia absolutely refuses and denies that there were any occurrences of racism before and during the match at the stadium in Krusevac.”
Serbia’s soccer fans are notorious for causing trouble at home and abroad. The European governing body, UEFA, awarded Italy a 3-0 win over Serbia after a qualifier in Genoa, Italy, in 2010 was stopped when Serbia supporters threw flares and fireworks onto the field, burned a flag and broke barriers.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. ITV News is the UK partner of NBC News.
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But I guess is would be OK if blacks wanted to chant "whitey" or "cracker" or some other derogatory phrase at the white players. I say that because it seems to be perfectly OK for blacks to be as racist as they want against whites in all areas, domestic and foreign, and nobody says a word. Anybody else find that interesting?
Oops. Your racist slip is showing.
When was the last time a black person called you or "whitey" or "cracker"?
I'm almost 60, living in Texas and it's NEVER happened to me. I've NEVER felt discriminated against or insulted by a black person.
A kid at my daughter's high school was making racist comments to team members from another school, but nobody from her school was called anything by the other school's students.
for real. i'm black, most of my family and friends are black and i grew up in oakland,ca and never ONCE have we called white people anything derogatory. reverse racism is what people who don't want to accept responsiblity say so they don't have to say i'm sorry.
Disgusting. Reminds me of some "conservative" comments I've seen here about Michelle Obama and references to "Obammy".
Of course, I'm used to it. I live in Texas.
you should move to detroit
Any sport or nation that permits this disgraceful exhibition of hate should be penalized. No apology is even remotely acceptable. These ranting Serbians deserve the disdain of the sports world and of civilized societies. Ban them from any participation in sports.
So all the other hooliganism that has been going on by Every soccer obsessed country has been ok, but "oh my, racial slurs? That kind of behavior will not be tolerated." (hand on cheek)
I'm glad the Serbs have kept up there fighting spirit, after losing all the rest of Yugoslavia. I suppose they hate the Jackson family over one of them being named Tito ! Keep it up and you'll give Slobodan Milocovich a bad name.
Ok, something doesn't add up here - that's the exact same noise that Arsenio Hall fans made when cheering him on. It's the same noise I've heard at other events, mainly alpha-male jackoffs trying to cheer their idols in a more "manly and tough" way. This is a sports event, how do we know the intention wasn't positive?
lol that's true they did sound like Arsenio.......but they were trying to do the monkey thing. It's kind of weird the Eastern European anti-black thing. They threw bananas at blacks in the Ukraine I think it was.
There really hasn't been much contact between the two groups, so I don't know where the racism would come from exactly? Maybe they're just starting to, and there's some problems.
Maybe because they're watching England, France, Spain, etc get more and more African, and they're mad. If it didn't feel threatening maybe there wouldn't be that reaction. Or, maybe they're just Really intent on their game and get really angry when the other team is doing well and vicious (like heavy sports fans get when watching their sport).
Bad, bad Serbians, bad!
Danny Rose just showed which side of the family tree he came from. Also notice that he's the same color as monkeys. About their smarts. Why do you think there's a big curve in admission tests for colleges. Their avg I.Q. is less than 95. Why after all these years they are barely out of the stone ages even after sinking billions of dollars down the "black" hole call Africa.
PTI,
This kind of crap happens everywhere. Just most of it doesn't make the news all the time.
I know I am going to catch it from everybody.
First, this Serbia's country and not the USA. They do not believe everyone is equal, so your are trying to enforce your beliefs on them. Many countries are like this: Egypt, China, Russia, Switzerland, Ireland, Germany, India, most middle Africa nations, and etc.
Second, everyone is some kind of bigot, sorry but it is true. Whether it is do to political party, religion, race, nationality, social status, geographic area, and etc.
Third, trying to force political correctness on people do not work. Look at our country for this.
Fourth, if you do not believe that a minority can not be racist your are crazy. Go to Detroit public schools and see how many black on white assaults happen do to race, but none of them are considered as hate crimes or hit national news.
Mickey, thankyou first for your service, i'am back home for now,i was in the middleeast, thank god... president obama made the decision to bring us home, it was hell! for me over there, but if i have to for my country ill do it again.
That's the Balkans for you. They simply don't respect our notion of limiting speech. Barbarians!
I think it's high time that the English team mates get ready to lay hands on a fool and school him on how to act. This Serbian dude sounds like he would be the perfect starting point. Some times the only thing that is going to get a guy's attention is a good ass whoopin'. So I say it is high time that they get this punk Milos and beat him like a rented mule. They do that and there bound to knock the "monky" out of his Racist ass!!
And what happens if he wins the fight tough guy?
My, my - we are tender, aren't we.
Ok I understand why the English are upset. It was wrong. However, how do you investigate noises from the crowd?
Funny how the Euros and the liberals who love them are supposedly better mannered than Americans......Let me know when a black man is made a leader of UK, France, Italy, Spain. And they had em before we did.....
Let me know when America has a non-Christian or a woman as a leader.
Serbia is still retarded after all. They are probably jealous of the blacks who play soccer better than they do.
After avoiding to read yet another story of rude behavior by European Soccer fans. I decided to check it out and see whats happened now? Low and behold they've actually made progress and everyone went home in one piece.
I no longer wonder what will be the cause of WWIII across Europe!
Ban them from the game. Period!! This is shameful.
Hopefully, Africans will treat African-americans better as a result of the racism they experience. However, Africans will never treat African-americans with respect for failure of understanding what transpsired in the history of America.