Extremist gangs set up pitched battles before games
» » Bulgarian football chiefs accused of not tackling hate Ugly racism has scarred the game for years
Lautas back Lokomotiv Plovdiv turned their phones off. Some English decided to fight between themselves.”
The poster appeared alongside bare-chested images of their “fighters” arriving for games. YouTube footage showed the Lauta army clashing with supporters of Lokomotiv Plovdiv’s fierce rivals Botev, wearing hoods and performing Nazi salutes.
Their banner was again on show in front of a section of Bulgarian fans where Monday’s offensive chanting took place.
On Lauta’s Facebook page it has a post Thugs making Nazi salute Group plan fighting on Facebook
of Donald Trump wearing a one of its jackets with the message: “We don’t like immigrants either.” Other images showed thugs lined up, dressed in black, in “team” photos, with their faces blanked out as they do Nazi salutes.
The thugs are so notorious they were escorted into the stadium by police. They were removed after the abuse and match stoppages.
The Levski arena already had 5,000 empty seats as a punishment for previous racist chanting.
But Fare, an umbrella organisation that fights inequality in football, insisted Bulgarian football bosses are not listening to its concerns.
Leaflets were handed out before the England game warning local fans against racism, that “did nothing to change Lauta Army banner behaviour and tackle the problem of racism and discrimination”.
Fare’s Pavel Klymenko said: “Bulgarian football has been infiltrated by far-right groups who use the stadiums to spread their message of hate. The Bulgarian FA’s response has virtually been non-existent.
“We have been trying to work with the Bulgarian FA to do more positive things, but they are not interested. They have not even responded to our letters.
“We do not even have the provision of banning orders within Bulgarian football. Even when the perpetrators are identified they continue to attend matches. The question is, is the will there within the Bulgarian FA to do anything about racism and discrimination within their game?”
Bulgarian FA boss Borislav Mihaylov was ordered to resign yesterday.
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Sterling’s gesture five were temporarily banned in December.