UEFA to terminate matches if fans resort to racial abuse

The Euro 2012 launch on Wednesday was dominated by questions about racism and UEFA President Platini has said that no racism will be tolerated and the referees have been granted powers with regard to the same.

The head of a Europe-wide campaign against discrimination in football acknowledged that the potential for racism is even more in this year’s competition.

“There is no question we are worried about this tournament more than any other,” Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) director Piara Powar told reporters on the sidelines of Platini’s meeting.

UEFA has invited the FARE network to help select a group of 31 expert spotters who will monitor every team’s fans for any banners, chants and behavior inside stadiums which breach UEFA’s zero-tolerance anti-discrimination policy.

Powar added that a team could even be expelled from the tournament for a third conviction from UEFA’s independent judicial bodies.

The issue is not new to football. Four years ago, UEFA fined the Croatia national association $19,600 for its fanss neo-Nazi flags and chants during a Euro 2008 loss against Turkey. Platini brought that down to the amount of nationalism in this tournament.

“There is more and more nationalism in Europe. You can feel this at a number of football matches,” Platini said in French. “There are some worries, some big worries, but a lot has been done thanks to football.”

“We will stop the game if there are problems because I think racism is the worst of this.”

But Platini insisted that all powers to terminate a football game or take any other action rested with the referees and not the players; a statement that was probably aimed at Italian forward Mario Balotelli who vowed to “just walk off” the field if any racial abuses were hurled at him.