London: European footballs governing body UEFA has been urged to take strong action over racist incidents in Mondays Euro 2020 qualifier between Montenegro and England in Podgorica and will receive a report from an independent monitoring group.
England defender Danny Rose was subjected to monkey chants and Raheem Sterling, the scorer of England`s final goal in the 5-1 win, was also targeted, with racist abuse heard throughout the game.
UEFA announced that they were opening an investigation into charges of “racist behaviour” during the game. The case will be dealt with by the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary panel on May 16.
Montenegro`s football association (FSCG) said they were ready to ban fans who could be shown to have been involved.
“If the proceedings prove that there was racist behaviour in the stadium, The Montenegrin Football Association (FSCG) will take all the necessary measures to identify the irresponsible individuals who might have caused such incidents and will ban them from all future matches organised by FSCG,” the body said in a statement.
The FSCG said this was the first incident they had suffered at an international game.
“We haven`t had any incidents involving religious, gender or racial discrimination at international matches before and we are certain that they will not happen in the future. There is no room for such behaviour in a multi-cultural and a multi-ethnic society like Montenegro.”
Sterling called for Montenegro supporters to be banned from matches, while England manager Gareth Southgate said he would report the incidents to UEFA.
As well as a complaint from the English FA, UEFA will also examine the referee`s report and the official report from their own match delegate.
Independent monitoring group FARE had an observer at the game and said they will also submit a report.
UEFA said they will not comment until their disciplinary body has received those reports while FARE said their evidence would be sent to the Swiss-based body.
“We had an observer present who picked up evidence of racial abuse. Our monitoring team have been compiling the evidence we have before presenting it to UEFA,” FARE said in a statement.
“We hope that UEFA will act decisively, the sanctions that could be applied for an offence of this kind range from a partial stadium closure to full stadium closure.”
