By Daisy Ayliffe - 27th April 2006
FIFA have backed down from commitments to tackle racism in football, Dutch socialist MEP Emine Bozkurt has said.
Bozkurt recently launched an initiative in the European parliament to combat racism in football but has now criticised FIFA president Sepp Blatter for making a ‘U-turn’ on previous promises.
"Racism is a crime. Racism during the matches of the World Cup is a crime with millions of witnesses. This should be punished, but Mr Blatter has failed to live up to his earlier promises,” the MEP declared.
"He has also said recently that sanctions should be imposed if people are not silent during the singing of national anthems. How can this be given practical effect?"
The criticism follows a FIFA announcement on Tuesday that new measures to combat racism in football, such as a deduction of points for clubs, will only be implemented after this summer’s World Cup.
Although the three-point sanctions apply for racist behaviour by players, coaches or team officials, Blatter said it was too difficult to apply sanctions to spectators because fans could use them to affect the results of games.
"Coming to the specific question of the World Cup, yes if it it's on the field of play, yes if it's on the technical bench or identified around the football pitch," he said at FIFA headquarters in Zurich.
"But, when it comes to the World Cup public, you have an international audience and you don't know where they are sitting. How do you then identify if someone will be or won't be in favour or against (a team)?"
But Bozkurt called on FIFA to take a stronger line.
"Mr Blatter now regards the new measures as too difficult to implement before the World Cup. I appeal to FIFA to live up to its earlier promises", the MEP insisted.
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