CYPRUS is not doing enough to combat the problem of racism during football matches. That was the message from a member of FARE (Football against Racism in Europe), speaking to the Sunday Mail in Brussels this week.
FARE official Kurt Wachter said he was expecting much more from the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) in terms of measures to counter the problem of racism.
“Our methodology is always to raise awareness, but of course we would like to have the power to tell some national football associations to move their backsides and do something about the problem. However, we also have to rely on the good will of the associations and on the media, who should put the issue on the agenda.
“With regards to Cyprus, they are not so much in the international competitions, so we haven’t really come across so many incidents. We did hear about an incident in the past, which occurred in Limassol in which monkey chanting was heard from the stands throughout the match.
“We would like to see, for example, the programme of the Cyprus Football Association to fight racism, which has been funded by UEFA [European football’s governing body]. Unfortunately, we are not aware that they have even begun to work on this programme.”
Wachter added that the battle against racism in football had only started recently and that UEFA had only now started clamping down hard on the problem.
“The situation before 2001 was really just a massive neglect of the problem, people would say that it is not even racism, nobody would take disciplinary action. However, since 2001, we believe that UEFA were starting to take the problem far more seriously, not only giving money to National Associations or campaigns but also using their rule books to fine clubs and really set examples to show that this behaviour is totally unacceptable.”
But CFA Chairman Costakis Koutsokoumnis told the Sunday Mail that he has never even heard of the organisation, despite FARE’s hand-in-hand collaboration with UEFA in the past few years. He also denied that the CFA had received funding to tackle the problem.
In 2003, the CFA was just one of the 52 associations present at the FARE-UEFA opening at Chelsea FC’s ground at Stamford Bridge. Reliable sources at FARE in Vienna confirmed to the Sunday Mail that CFA officials had been present at the opening.
But Koutsokoumnis was adamant: “I have never even heard of this organisation and as far as I know, we have not received a penny. This is the first time that I have heard of them… If we had money we could use television to get some nice messages across.”
The CFA Chairman added that racism was currently not a problem in Cyprus, despite the warning from FARE that the island needs to act better towards the problem.
“It is not really a problem in Cyprus and we have only had about one or two cases this year and those cases were sent to the disciplinary committees of the CFA. There were no regulations in place in previous years that is why the problem was far more serious.
“But now, Cyprus is in an excellent position with regard to the battle against racism. We can handle it because racism is not a problem at all in Cyprus.”
So what measures can the CFA take against the ‘non-existent’ problem of racism on the island? Koutsokoumnis explained: “Clubs can be penalised with point deductions and the exclusion of clubs from playing at their home stadiums. These are just some of the measures that can be taken. So far we have not seen anything serious to warrant this.
“The problem here is not so much that the players are coloured, but the problem is that good players, whether they are coloured, non-coloured or Greek, are targeted by opposing fans to destroy their morale during a game.”
Last Wednesday, Apollon Limassol were fined just £400 after their fans directed racist monkey chants at two African players of Nea Salamina.
One person in complete disagreement with Koutsokoumnis is an African player, wishing to remain anonymous, currently playing for a team in Larnaca.
“I cannot believe that he says that there isn’t a problem with racism in football on the island. Either he is totally ignorant of the fact that there is a problem, or he is trying to cover up the problem. I almost always hear monkey chanting at me in some form, or people calling me names whenever I play, especially if we are playing at an away ground.”
So are the national associations doing enough to beat the problem? Wachter believes that some associations are not.
“The initial problem was that most of the associations with the biggest problems of racism would just neglect the problem or to play it down. Just to mention Italy, where for years we have had massive problems and I don’t know of any concerted action to fight the problem. I am also very sorry to say that we have other associations who could do far more than what they have done or doing.”
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