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Do you agree with the walk-off? Should they have ID the culprits and eject them instead? Do you think this will stop the racist chants at soccer games in Europe?
AC Milan's Kevin-Prince Boateng leads team off pitch in protest at racist chanting in friendly match with Pro Patria
By Luke Edwards
Source: UK Telegraph
AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has become the first player to cause a game to be abandoned because of racist abuse after his team-mates followed him off the pitch in protest at his treatment by opposition fans.
In what campaigners hope could be a defining moment in the fight against racism, Boateng, with the full support of his AC Milan colleagues, forced a friendly match against Italian fourth division side Pro Patria to be halted after 25 minutes.
The former Portsmouth and Tottenham midfielder was so incensed by the chants emanating from one corner of the ground that he picked the ball up and booted it towards the offending supporters in the stands before ripping off his shirt and storming off the pitch.
There was a brief period of confusion as players from both sides tried to talk to Boateng, but Milan’s Italian captain Massimo Ambrosini instructed the rest of the Milan team to walk off in a show of support for Boateng.
Anti-racism campaigners in Britain and fellow professionals across the game have also expressed their support for Boateng’s show of defiance. It could set an example for other black players to follow in competitive fixtures, thus challenging Uefa’s policy that players must remain on the pitch, regardless of crowd chants.
Uefa has repeatedly been criticised for its failure to take a tougher stance on racism. The governing body even threatened to book any player who walked off the pitch in response to racist chanting at the European Championship last summer.
Giancarlo Abete, president of the Italian Football Association president, said the incident “unspeakable and intolerable” and called an immediate inquiry. “No sanction or measure can erase the disdain for an unspeakable and intolerable episode,” he said. “We must react with force and without silence to isolate the few criminals that transformed a friendly match into an uproar that offends all of Italian football.”
AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said he hoped his players had set a precedent in Italian football, which has long been plagued by *racist chanting and abuse. “I hope that [our actions] will be followed if it were to happen in official games, from the amateur championships to Serie A,” he said.
Read the rest at UK Telegraph
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