Last week, Milan showed its unique way of retaliation to racial comments being made over its players by walking out of the field and match had to be abandoned later. There were mixed reviews from all over the world over Milan’s action to tackle racism; some said it was just a friendlier hence Milan did not give due devotion to it; while Milan president was familiar with his team’s stand on the incident. Moreover, Milan president Berlusconi also re-iterated that his team would do the same if there are similar circumstances in the future. The important feedback came from FIFA president Sepp Blatter’ who said FIFA is devoted to follow a zero tolerance policy to tackle racism; hence there in no need to run away of the field coz this will not serve any objective in the process of eradicating this devil from the game.
Last week, Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince took his teammates back to their dressing rooms and later to their buses when racial chant kept from the crowd despite requesting several times. Post walk off, police promised to file a criminal investigation against all responsible spectators but there is no sign of any such investigation until now. Now, Berlusconi has responded to Blatter’s comments angrily by clearly saying that he is in the opposite row. Giving an interview to a radio station, he said,
“In fact, I thanked and congratulated my players for their decision to leave the field during the friendly in Busto Arsizio. This is an uncivilised problem that needs to be stopped, people should not allow these things to happen. Teams out on the pitch should set an example of civility and the educational role of football should not be underestimated. It’s not only about the behaviour of players in the game, but of the public, and everyone needs to avoid giving Italy a negative image.”
He was replying to Blatter statement given to a UAE newspaper in the Middle East, he had said, “But the Italian federation has yet to provide FIFA with the report detailing what exactly has happened. I don’t think you can run away, because eventually you can run away if you lose a match. This issue is a very touchy subject, but I repeat there is zero tolerance of racism in the stadium; we have to go against that. The only solution is to be very harsh with the sanctions – and the sanctions must be a deduction of points or something similar.”
Matter seems to be heating up rather cooling down; hence be prepared for more wire words from both sections in coming weeks!