Football fans from Dagestan ask to punish "Zenit" fan for racism

The Fan Club of the "Anji" FC named "Wild Division" has sent letters to FIFA President Joseph Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini asking them to assess manifestations of racism in Russian football. It concerns an incident on March 21 in St Petersburg during the match of the Russian football championship between "Anji" (Makhachkala) and "Zenit" (St Petersburg) when the captain of "Anji" Roberto Carlos was subjected to racist outburst from "Zenit" fans.

On February 16, the "Anji" announced a contract with the 2002 World Champion Brazilian Roberto Carlos. At the "Anji" training camp in Turkey in early March the team elected Roberto as the team captain.

"The incident happened before the match, during performance of the national anthem of Russia, when the captains of both teams headed to the tribune with "Zenit" fans to hoist the flag of Russia. When they hoisted the flag, one of the fans of the St Petersburg team handed a banana over the head of Roberto Carlos, hinting to the colour of his skin. As you may see from the photo, his fellow fans did not even try to stop the bully, but instead found this joke rather funny," runs the statement of "Anji" fans.

"This and numerous other cases of unpunished racism and Nazism in our country compel us to address you in the hope for your interference in this situation," runs the statement of the fans of the club, signed by the head of the "Anji" Fan Club "Wild Division" Ramazan Gaziev. The full text of the appeal of the Fan Club, together with photos and video, can be found on the website "Sports.ru".

Representatives of the "Zenit" FC say that they consider the incident as a provocation. "The provocateur was identified, and we passed all the necessary information over to law enforcement bodies. Now, the issue is considered on initiating a criminal case under Article 282 of the Criminal Code - 'Inciting hatred or hostility, and humiliation of human dignity'," - said Evgeniy Gusev, spokesperson of the Football Club.

Let us note here that fans of "Zenit" are not for the first time noted for manifestations of intolerance to representatives of other nationalities. In March 2008, after the second leg of 1/8 final match of the UEFA Cup with the "Marseille" FC, which was won by "Zenit" 2:0, the defender of the guest team Ronald Zubar told that he and other dark-skinned players from the French team were insulted. Later, the UEFA fined "Zenit" by 37,000 euros.

In Brazil, the local television showed a video with comments to the photo of Roberto Carlos published on the Internet. The report was published under the title "Racism in football". The commentator said that "Zenit" fans are known for their racist actions: they even have a slogan "Zenit colours have no black!"

"In the light of the fact that we were granted the right to host the World Cup-2018, we just cannot tolerate such incidents. They in no case favour the Russian football," said Vladimir Leonchenko, Chairman of the Board of Trade Union of Players and Coaches. "Roberto Carlos is a world famous star, a man who played in many countries. We don't need this resonance."

Budun Budunov, President of the Football Federation of Dagestan, a former striker of the "Anji" also made his comments on the incident that took place in St Petersburg before the match of the 2nd round between "Zenit" and "Anji".

"It's not quite correct to judge about all the fans by one person," said Budunov. "Bad people are everywhere. I think Roberto Carlos was not happy to encounter with racism. I hope the football authorities will stop such phenomena."

"We intend to carefully study the incident," said Alu Alkhanov, head of the Ethics Committee of the Russian Football Union. "We surely won't leave it unattended. There are questions to 'Zenit' related to last year. So far, I find it hard to tell what consequences may be discussed. There is an extensive list of sanctions for such behaviour of fans: a fine, a match without spectators, disqualification of the stadium and even taking away points in the table, if the negative phenomenon was widespread. A lot will also depend on whether the 'Anji' files a complaint."

"We are not going to file a complaint," said, in his turn, German Chistyakov, Director General of the Makhachkala club. "The 'Zenit' received us nicely; they have their own security service, who will find this idiot. As for Roberto Carlos, we didn't discuss this topic with him. But I think that during his career he had seen a lot of things. So, a banana is not able to surprise or frighten him. "