LawFuel.com – Sports Law News – Racist chants and racial abuse arising from Ghana footballer Kevin-Prince Boateng have elevated the debate about how best to handle such behaviour in sports games.
The AC Milan players left the filed because of the chants and abandoned an exhibition match, according to news reports.
Associated Press report that the game was interrupted and later ended because of chants directed at several black Milan players, despite appeals to stop from the public address announcer.
After repeated chants directed his way, Ghana midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng picked up the ball and kicked it at a section of the crowd in the 26th minute of the first half.
Boateng took off his shirt and walked off the field with his Milan teammates. Urby Emanuelson, Sulley Muntari and M’Baye Niang also were targeted by the chants.
“Walking off was the right choice when faced with something like this,” Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said. “We need to stop these uncivil gestures. Italy needs to improve and become better educated and more intelligent.”
The Italian soccer federation (FIGC) announced an inquiry, but said “no sanction or penalty can erase the disdain for an unjustifiable and intolerable episode.”
“We need to react with strength and without silence to isolate the few delinquents that transformed a friendly match into a mess that offends all of Italian football,” FIGC said in a statement.
The match, which was scoreless at the time, was not resumed. The game was played in Busto Arsizio, a town located north of Milan. Pro Patria plays in Italy’s fourth-tier division.
The Boateng incident is one of a number of recent actions by fans in different jurisdictions that are worrying football and other sports authorities as they grapple with the best way to handle the growing problem.
