Shameful

Despicable scenes were witnessed on Tuesday night as England u21’s booked their place in the 2013 u21 European Championships. Ironically it all ‘kicked off’ after the final whistle as Serbian players incited a mass brawl between themselves and the England players and coaching staff. I just want to point out that no Serbian player or coach went for Stuart Pearce. In truth I wish they had as it would’ve been amusing to see any Serb flat on the floor after being knocked out by Psycho. Nobody messes with Stuart ‘Psycho’ Pearce. The result of the scuffle saw Danny Rose sent off and both Football Associations facing disciplinary action. The reason for this clash became apparent after the game.

Rose indicating he was the subject of racist abuse

It was reported that before, during and after the game, Danny Rose and several other black England players were victims of racist abuse from the Serbian fans. (See video below)  An eastern European nation abusing black players? Why that’s unheard of! (I speak sarcastically of course as the racism issue was a major cause for concern before Euro 2012, and there have been several news reports on the racist football culture in Russia.)  There have been too many problems with this at home recently, so for to players to be exposed to this yet again is disgraceful. But the real atrocity has been the conduct of Serbia in this matter, who have been repeatedly trying to shift the blame towards the England contingent.

A quote from the statement from the Serbian FA reads: “While most of the English team players celebrated the score, their player No.3, Danny Rose, behaved in inappropriate, unsportsmanlike and vulgar manner towards the supporters, and for that he was shown a red card.” A player was subjected to monkey noises before the game even started and onwards and he is made the victim? Shameful. 

 A quote from Serbian u21 international Nikola Ninkovic reads: "The guy three or four times made inappropriate gestures towards our fans. I was angered by his reaction so I rushed over to explain to him that he should not do that.”  All Danny Rose did in response to RACISM was kick a ball and put thumbs up to the fans and he gets the blame for starting a riot? Shameful. 

The fact that Danny Rose got sent off for kicking a ball in frustration after the final whistle? Shameful. The fact that UEFA are charging the English FA? Shameful. The conduct of the Serbian FA, Serbian players and coaching staff, and UEFA? Shameful.