Western Morning News (Saturday)
Kick It Out chief regards sanctions as ‘laughable’
UEFA and FIFA’s ‘intent and desire to eradicate discrimination’ called into question
FIFA and UEFA should have worked together to protect England’s players from the “preventable and predictable” racist abuse they suffered in Hungary on Thursday night, according to the chief executive of Kick It Out.
Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham were subjected to monkey chants during the match in Budapest, which England won 4-0.
Tony Burnett said the governing bodies of world and European football should have ensured that a UEFA sanction issued against Hungary in July for homophobic and racist offences during Euro 2020 applied to the FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.
Instead, the UEFA decision to order Hungary to play two home matches without fans will not come into effect until next year’s Nations League is played.
Burnett also said it would be “laughable” if the offences which led to the UEFA sanctions are not taken into account by FIFA when it considers punishment related to Thursday night’s abuse. It is understood FIFA is holding internal discussions about whether the UEFA sanctions would constitute re-offending or be treated as a new offence. If the latter, Hungary could expect more lenient treatment.
Burnett told the PA news agency: “I think intent really for me is the crux of this problem. If FIFA wanted to solve this issue and wanted to do the right thing, we wouldn’t have seen the events of last night because they would have been serious and put the preventative measures in place.
“If they’re now in a conversation about whether this is a new offence because it’s a World Cup qualifier rather than a Euros game, then that’s just laughable, absolutely laughable.
“Why do we keep coming back to these same scenarios, when they’re so predictable and they’re so preventable? If the governing bodies and the right people have got the intent to affect change, they’ll do it.
“The question for us is why FIFA didn’t act to prevent this, and why the global football system didn’t work together to prevent this.
“All I’m hearing again thus far is excuses about who should file what paperwork and who should file permission for X, Y and Z.
“The players and Gareth Southgate, yet again, are having to talk about a really distressing situation they have been put in because the authorities didn’t do their job.
“I just really question the will, intent and desire to eradicate discrimination if you can’t protect players in a city and in an environment where you’re 90 per cent sure they’re going to get abused.
“If a country is being found guilty of discrimination, and the stadium has been ordered to be closed to fans, that should apply irrespective of the competition that that country’s playing in.
“The message is: ‘If you can’t control your fans and you can’t protect players that are going into that environment, then you’re not fit to hold a game.’”
FIFA, which ordered Hungary to play a World Cup qualifier behind closed doors in January 2013 after anti-Semitic behaviour during a match against Israel, has promised “adequate actions” will be taken once it has received the match reports from Thursday’s game..
Burnett praised England’s players for the way they conducted themselves in an extremely hostile atmosphere, with players also pelted with cups and booed as they took the knee before kick-off.