Milan Has A Stinker

Baros insists he's no racist but French fans are furious over Rennes flashpoint
FORMER Liverpool and Aston Villa star Milan Baros has raised an almighty stink in French football.

Baros, who left the Premiership for Lyon this season, has been pictured holding his nose while pointing at a black opponent.

The gesture has provoked a huge outcry, with media switchboards jammed by outraged callers.
Czech striker Baros has been called before a League disciplinary commission which could ban him for racist behaviour.

Stephane Mbia, the Rennes defender involved in the flashpoint, said: "What does Baros mean?
"That I stink, that I am a piece of sh**? Would he have had the same attitude towards a white man?

Oguchi Onyewu Sues Player Over “Racist Insult”

In what many will consider an overdue reaction to racism in football, a black player is suing a white opponent over an alleged racist insult directed at him during a match in Belgium. Oguchi Onyewu, the United States and Standard Liege defender, has accused Jelle van Damme of Anderlecht of calling him a “dirty monkey”, a claim that Van Damme, who is white, has denied.

Accusations of racism made by black players against spectators and other players are far from uncommon, but Onyewu's recourse to law takes the battle a stage further. “He was convinced it was his duty to lodge the complaint,” Jean-Louis Dupont, Onyewu's lawyer, said. “It is not a question of whether Van Damme is racist. The issue is that these slurs are still used on the pitch, and are being used because they know it hurts.”

The alleged insult was used during the first leg of the Belgian league title play-off between Standard and Anderlecht on May 21. Onyewu, who is presently preparing with the US squad for the Confederations Cup in South Africa this month and two World Cup qualifiers, alerted the referee to three incidents during the match, but no action was taken. He threatened to leave the pitch but was convinced to stay by teammates. Standard drew the match, winning the second leg 1-0 to retain their league title.

Lynch Him In A Back Alley

HONOLULU - Golf Channel suspended anchor Kelly Tilghman for two weeks on Wednesday for saying last week that young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should “lynch him in a back alley.”

Tilghman was laughing during the exchange Friday with analyst Nick Faldo at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and Woods’ agent at IMG said he didn’t think there was any ill intent.
But the comments became prevalent on news shows Wednesday, and the Rev. Al Sharpton joined the fray by demanding she be fired immediately. Golf Channel didn’t know who would replace Tilghman in the booth this week at the Sony Open or next week at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Cultural Misunderstanding

What had been a fine day for India and Harbhajan Singh on the third day of the second Test match against Australia was marred when the off spinner was reported by the umpires to Mike Procter, the match referee, for alleged racial vilification of Andrew Symonds.

If found guilty of a Level 3 offence under the ICC’s code of conduct – the hearing was scheduled to take place after the end of play on the fourth day – Harbhajan faces a ban of between two and four Test matches. That would rule him out of the rest of the four-match series.

Harbhajan had reached his third Test fifty when the altercation with Symonds took place. The Australia all-rounder said something to Harbhajan, who is alleged to have retorted by calling Symonds “a monkey”. It is not clear whether Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor, the umpires, heard the exchange, but they were seen to talk to the two players as well as Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain.

Although Sachin Tendulkar, who was batting with Harbhajan at the time, tried to play down the incident as being humorous, it is understood that Ponting and the Australians were keen for the umpires to report the matter to Procter. None of the officials would comment on the case.

Ponting and Harbhajan have been feuding since 1998, when the Australian was stumped off his bowling in a one-day match in Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates. Harbhajan pointed him towards the dressing-room, whereupon Ponting reacted angrily. Both players were fined by the match referee.

Ponting has suffered seven failures at the hands of Harbhajan in the eight Tests they have opposed each other, including once in this series. In the celebrated 2001 series, which India won 2-1 at home, Harbhajan got Ponting out in all five of the innings he bowled to him, three times for ducks. Ponting scored only 17 runs in total.

Ponting has not taken kindly to taunts from the off spinner in the media that he is effectively his “bunny”. Asked why he has enjoyed such notable success against a batsman who has made a mountain of runs against other Test bowlers, Harbhajan said: “He hasn’t batted for long enough against me, so I don’t know.”

The Australians have expressed their dislike for the combative off spinner, who is not afraid to “sledge” them and was prominent in the rancorous one-day series between the countries in India last autumn. Ponting, who was riled by Harbhajan’s comments that Australia’s sledging was “personal and vulgar”, claimed that Harbhajan “has got plenty to say on the field, but whenever anyone says anything back to him he is the first to run away”.

Symonds, who has a West Indian parent, became a target for India fans during that series in October, notably in the match in Vadodara when a few dozen imitated monkey noises and actions when he was fielding on the boundary near them. The Australians complained to the Indian authorities, but in the Twenty20 match that followed in Bombay, large sections of the crowd, having heard of the official complaint, repeatedly aimed similar abuse at Symonds.

The Australia players’ stand against Harbhajan yesterday appears to owe much to this incident and to the bad blood between them and the feisty India spinner.

Indian Fans Face Racism Charges

Four Indian cricket fans have been charged for allegedly racially abusing Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds by making monkey gestures, police say.

The four fans were evicted from a one-day international match in Mumbai (Bombay) on Wednesday.

Symonds is the only mixed race player in the Australian side, having made his international debut in 1998.

He frequently clashed with Indian players during the one-day series, which Australia won 4-2.
Cricket officials say that photographs of fans making offensive gestures to Symonds as he came in to bat have been handed over to police.

Police say that the four fans, including a woman, have been charged with harassment and have now been released on bail to appear in court at a later date.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says that the gestures were made even as an anti-racism message flashed on a big screen.

"There is no place for racism in cricket either on or off the field," a joint statement released on Wednesday by Indian and Australian cricket officials said.

"All cricket nations have to be on guard to ensure that the fun does not cross the boundary into unacceptable behaviour."

Police Investigate Yorke Race Row

Lancashire Police have launched a criminal investigation into allegations that Birmingham's Dwight Yorke was racially abused during yesterday's Barclays Premiership game at Blackburn.
Former Rovers player Yorke, a substitute for the game at Ewood Park, confronted a fan he claimed was taunting him as he warmed up along the touchline.

The incident came just four days after several England players were racially abused during a friendly international against Spain in Madrid.

One fan was ejected from the ground and after consultation with the club, the police have now started criminal proceedings.

Blackburn released a club statement saying: "After hearing reports from the club's safety officers and studying available CCTV and video footage of an incident involving a spectator and the Birmingham City player, Dwight Yorke, Lancashire Constabulary has now launched a criminal investigation.

"It goes without saying that we will give the police - who now intend to interview all relevant parties - our full co-operation during the length of that investigation.

"We cannot elaborate on the matter as it may prove to be prejudicial, but we would like to stress that this was an isolated incident and that we deeply regret any embarrassment caused to Dwight Yorke and Birmingham City Football Club.

"Over the years, the club has worked tirelessly to eliminate racism, working in close conjunction with organisations like Kick It Out, and we want to be quite clear that racism will not be tolerated at Ewood Park.

"We have kept the Premier League, the Football Association, the Professional Footballers Association and Birmingham City fully aware of progress and the general ongoing situation."
FA investigation

The Football Association launched an investigation into the latest alleged racist incident to rock their game, involving Birmingham striker Dwight Yorke.

The Trinidad and Tobago international had to suffer reported 'monkey' taunts from two fans when warming up during the second half of his team's Barclays Premiership clash with his former club Blackburn at Ewood Park yesterday.

One spectator was ejected from the ground in an incident which echoed the sickening behaviour of Spanish fans towards England's black players during last week's friendly international in Madrid.
The matter is also being investigated by the Football Association, who were last week strong in their condemnation of what happened in Spain.

FA head of media relations Adrian Bevington confirmed: "Our position at present is that we are still establishing the facts and we hope to speak to all interested parties today."
Birmingham managing director Karren Brady has expressed her disgust that racism has once again reared its ugly head in English football.

Brady, whose club helped collaborate a dossier to help with inquiries, said: "It is very sad for football. None of us want to see it. We all want to stamp on this and get it out of our game once and for all.

"We've just got to wait and see what this investigation throws up."
Remarkably, Birmingham City plc chairman David Sullivan played down the matter, claiming "it is not the crime of the century".

Making it clear his view is a personal one, and not necessarily that of the club, he told Sky Sports News: "To me, it's all been blown out of all proportion.
"I heard absolutely nothing. If it's three out of 22,000 who make racist comments then it's not very nice.
"I think you have to pick up on it and ban those people from the ground but I just can't believe, with all that is going on in the world, that it's that big a deal.

"If someone had made a racist comment to me and it was three out of 22,000, I would say it's not very nice, I wish they hadn't made it, but it's not the crime of the century.

"It was only when he was warming up. He could have run up the other end of the ground."
Sports minister Richard Caborn, meanwhile, has called for a zero-tolerance approach to racism in football.

Caborn believes a firm stance needs to be taken against racists as he said: "This seems to be an isolated incident, but it is still unacceptable behaviour.

"We need to strengthen peer-group power so that people can report these incidents to stewards or police and be confident that their complaint will be dealt with.

"Of course, this was nothing like the events that went on in Madrid last week - but racism should not be tolerated in any form."

The Football Association and the Premier League today issued a joint statement about the incident at Blackburn.

The statement read: "The FA and the Premier League today welcomed the swift action taken by Blackburn Rovers in launching an investigation into a reported instance of racist abuse aimed at Birmingham City's Dwight Yorke at Ewood Park yesterday.

"We fully support Blackburn Rovers' entirely appropriate reaction to this incident and their involvement of the Lancashire Police who will ensure that this matter is dealt with as the law demands.

"The FA, the Premier League and The Football League condemn racism in all its forms and are committed to stamping out any form of racist behaviour from football through our work with Kick It Out and numerous local campaigns.

However, this isolated incident is a reminder of the need for continued vigilance.
"The Report Racism hotline has been set up to allow anyone involved in football to report incidents of racism to The FA.

Eto'o Racism Mars Barcelona Win

MADRID (AFP) — Barcelona reeled off their seventh successive win to reach the summit of the Spanish first division but Saturday's 4-1 win at Malaga was marred by racism directed at their Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o.

African forward Eto'o was subjected to monkey charts by the home fans at the La Rosaleda before being booed when he was substituted late on as racism reared its ugly head once again.
Eto'o, 27, has become a major figure in football's bid to kick racism out of the game after being on the receiving end of racist remarks in the past.

In February 2006, Eto'o had wanted to leave the pitch in a 2-0 victory against Real Zaragoza after being forced to listen to monkey cries and dodge peanuts thrown at him. Then coach Frank Rijkaard persuaded him to go on and Zaragoza were fined 9,000 euros.

The Eto'o incidents come just after a Spanish website targeted McLaren Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton with racist abuse.

Eto'o was not on the scoresheet in Barca's 4-1 win with Spain's Euro 2008 hero Xavi Hernandez and a sixth goal of the season from Argentine Lionel Messi sealing the points on a rain-soaked pitch.

"You couldn't really play on a pitch in this condition," said Barca coach Pep Guardiola. "It was a game of trying not to make mistakes.

"Malaga had won four matches in a row and that is no easy feat. I am happy with the win against a physical team that can hurt you on the counter attack."

Barcelona's next match is at home on Tuesday when they face FC Basel in the Champions League looking to continue their perfect start in Europe.

In the league Barca are a point clear of Villarreal at the top with the latter also winning 4-1 over Athletic Bilabo to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

Valencia could have displaced Barca at the summit but fell to their first league defeat of the season with a 4-2 home loss against Racing Santander.

Congo striker Mohamed Tchite scored a sensational hat-trick to down Valencia who stay third, two points behind Barcelona.

"My hat-trick is not important but the three points for the team certainly are," said Tchite. It was only Racing's second win of the season and they jump to 11th spot.

Defending champions Real Madrid, three points behind Barca, are in action on Sunday at Almeria.

Elsewhere Argentine attacker Sergio "Kun" Aguero gave Liverpool something to think about ahead of Tuesday's Champions League match at Anfield with a brace as Atletico Madrid defeated Real Mallorca 2-0 at the Vicente Calderon on Saturday.

Aguero was back in the starting XI after being rested for the past few matches and returned with a bang scoring a first half double.

It was Atletico's first league victory since September 24 when they defeated derby rivals Getafe 2-1 and Javier Aguirre's side climb to sixth.

"It is a relief because we had picked up one point in the last four weeks," explained Aguirre, who said match hero Aguero still needed time to regain match sharpness.

"I will take him (Aguero) to Liverpool for the game but he is on an intensive training regime and has two more weeks of specialised training."

Villarreal put their Kings Cup nightmare firmly behind them with a 4-1 triumph at Athletic Bilbao to go second.

Villarreal went into the match reeling from a 5-0 Kings Cup humiliation by unknown Poli Ejido but responded in the perfect way.

Goals from Giuseppe Rossi, veteran Robert Pires, nearing the end of his career at 35, and Santiago Cazorla wrapped up the points for the visitors.

Villarreal now turn their attention to Wednesday's Champions League match against Danish side Aalborg BK.

Zoro Suffers More Racist Abuse

Messina's Ivorian defender Marc Zoro was reduced to tears on Sunday, after being subjected to racial abuse by the visiting fans of Inter Milan, in the Italian Serie A.

The 21-year-old was targetted when he went to collect the ball near the away supporters' section and after a chorus of monkey chants he decided he would take no more part in the game.
Inter's Brazilian striker Adriano went over to console Zoro before he broke down in tears.
Zoro's team-mates managed to then persuade him to play the remainder of the match and his decision was applauded by the Messina crowd.

Officials from the Italian football federation talked to Zoro about the incident after the match and the matter is likely to lead to an official enquiry.

Last month, Zoro said he constantly suffers racial insults.

"I have been playing in Italy for three years and I see this happening almost daily," the 21-year-old said.

"All this makes me really sad. It's not easy for me and it hurts. I don't deserve this."

On the first day of this season, Zoro was subjected to racial abuse by a large section of Lazio fans at the Olympic stadium.

His anger almost boiled over at the final whistle and he had to be restrained by his team-mates.
Afterwards, Lazio president Claudio Lotito went into the Messina dressing room to apologise on behalf of his club.

Espanyol Suspend Fans Over Racism

Spanish club Espanyol have suspended two fans who abused Cameroon goalkeeper Carlos Kameni.

The incident happened during Saturday's league game against Barcelona.
The club said on their website that they are attempting to identify two more who were involved in an attack on two Japanese spectators.

Espanyol added that they would decide whether or not to expel the fans permanently at a board meeting later this week.

"Espanyol has always stood against violence and xenophobic behaviour and for some time has rejected any attitude that is contrary to sporting behaviour and respect towards others," the club said in a statement.

Kameni has been a regular victim of racial abuse from a section of the club's radical fans as well as opposing supporters at other grounds in Spain.

Last month he said the abuse had affected his performances for the club.
Kameni is currently on duty for Cameroon as part of their African Nations Cup squad.

Fifa Probes Spanish Racist Chants

Fifa is to investigate after Spain fans hurled racist abuse at England's black players in Wednesday's friendly.

England's Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ashley Cole were subjected to monkey chants in Madrid, prompting a furious reaction from the Football Association. In a statement, Fifa said: "We are concerned about the latest surge of racism and harshly condemn this."

The statement added: "(Fifa) will demand explanations from the Spanish football association."
Fifa president Sepp Blatter said football had the potential to be a powerful anti-racist force.

"There is no room whatsoever for racism or discrimination in our sport. On the contrary, football is a tool for building bridges and nurturing tolerance," he said.

"The world is already too full of conflict that has its roots in racism and discrimination. Football

has a positive influence."

Lewis Hamilton 'Saddened' By Racist Abuse

Lewis Hamilton says he expected a backlash from Spanish Formula One fans following his falling-out with former team-mate Fernando Alonso, but he has been shocked by the level of abuse he received on Saturday.

The McLaren driver, 23, was subjected to racist comments and was faced with a group of spectators wearing wigs, dark make-up and t-shirts with the slogan "Hamilton's Family" on the front during pre-season testing near Barcelona. And although the Briton insisted he still loves being in Spain, he admitted he was not prepared for what occured at the Circuit de Catalunya, in Montmelo.

"The truth is that I feel somewhat sad, I am in love with this country, and especially the city of Barcelona and this circuit, which is one of my three favourites," Hamilton said.
"The people in Spain have always been very warm with me, and even though I imagined what might happen it has not been pleasant.

"But maybe these types of things make you learn to appreciate more the warmth of the public, who although you always try to be there for them, you never know how important they are to you until these types of things happen."
Alonso has since joined Renault for the new season after a fractious 2007 partnering Hamilton during his rookie season.

"I would like [the Spanish fans] to understand my position," Hamilton said. "The only thing that I have done is to try to give the best of myself and try to win the championship. At no point have I tried to deliberately prejudice Fernando but the fight has been very tough and my image in Spain has been severely damaged."

McLaren have attempted to play down the problems but the sport's governing body, the FIA, have pledged to take a hard line on any future incidents.

"Vodafone McLaren Mercedes have raced and tested on Spanish circuits for many years, and everyone connected with the team regards Spain and the Spanish people with great affection, Lewis included," a McLaren statement said

The FIA, however, have warned that Spain could even be stripped of its grands prix as a result of such incidents, with the country due to host two races this year, at Barcelona and Valencia.
A spokesman said: "FIA are surprised and disappointed at the abuse directed at Lewis Hamilton. An act of this kind is a clear breach of the principles enshrined in the FIA statutes, and any repetition will result in sanctions."

The management at the circuit have also warned spectators about their behaviour. Ramon Pradera, the circuit director, added: "We would like to make a plea to the fans to behave correctly. No type of offensive behaviour can be tolerated."

Aragonés Racist Fine Ridiculous - Henry

Thierry Henry yesterday called on Fifa, the world game's governing body, to order a greater punishment of Spain's national coach Luis Aragonés after his racist comments directed at the Arsenal striker.

Aragonés was fined 3,000 euros (£2,060) by the Spanish football federation earlier this week, a sum that Henry calls "absolutely ridiculous" after the game's anti-racist movment Kick It Out labelled "a tokenistic gesture".

Henry, who was called "a black shit" by Aragonés at a Spanish training session in October, told the Sun: "It's up to Fifa to step in - they are the only ones who can do something . . . they should look at this fine and make it a proper one. They must also tell the Spanish FA to get real.

"You really have to look at the Spanish authorities and they must take a long look at themselves. They obviously don't care about racism.

"It is laughable. They fined him for the sake of it, not because they felt he did something wrong."
The 66-year-old Aragonés did publicly apologise for any offence caused but later said, before November's friendly with England in Madrid, that his conscience was clear about issues of racism.

Manuel Almunia, a club-mate of Henry, sympathises with Aragonés. Arsenal's Spanish goalkeeper says he cannot see why the coach was fined 3,000 euros.

"All this has been exaggerated," Almunia told the sports daily Mundo Deportivo. "We all know Luis Aragonés. "He is a strong personality who was only trying to motivate his players. But racist, not at all. They've fined him 3,000 euros. Well, I don't understand it."

Say No To Racism In Sport

I am going to be investigating the use of racism in football and how it is represented in the media. As a result i will create a campaign poster on anti-racism in football.