'Racist abuse' of Yaya Touré has already been dismissed by CSKA Moscow

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/oct/24/cska-moscow-racial-abuse-yaya-toure

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It should be no surprise that CSKA Moscow have denied any possibility that Yaya Touré could have been racially abused during their Champions League meeting with Manchester City at the Khimki Arena on Wednesday evening.

Every time there is an apparently racist incident in Russian football the denials and implausible explanations follow swiftly. That many Russian football clubs have a problem with racist fans is no secret to black players who have played in the country's league and frequently suffered abuse, but officials are often eager to dismiss the problem as fabricated by nefarious overseas media.

Although the majority of racist incidents do involve isolated groups of fans rather than whole stands, there is a distinct lack of will on behalf of Russian clubs and officials to take the issue seriously, according to many black players. Particularly troubling is the continued taunting of them with monkey noises and bananas, things which have been repeatedly written off as not racist.

Exactly what happened at the City match this week is still unclear, with CSKA absolutely adamant that nothing of the sort happened. The club even released a statement from Touré's fellow Ivorian Seydou Doumbia, who plays for the Moscow side and said he had heard no racist chants and that his countryman was "clearly exaggerating". Doumbia was himself the victim of an apparent racist incident in 2011, when a Zenit St Petersburg fan threw an orange at him after he scored.

Several fans who attended the Manchester City game and sat in different parts of the ground confirmed to the Guardian that they had not seen or heard any racist abuse. "The crowd were very well-behaved and despite the loss, fans were calm, there was no violence or vandalism, and nor is there any video evidence of racist chants on YouTube," said Dmitry Medvedenko, a Russian journalist and CSKA fan who was at the game.

"There have been cases like that before in Russia, that is true and it's a disgrace for Russian football, but most fans are appalled by such behaviour."

But even at the top level of the Russian government, there has been little acknowledgement that racism among the country's fans could be a problem.

During a Euro 2012 game between Russia and the Czech Republic in the Polish city of Wroclaw, Russian fans were accused of racially abusing the black Czech defender Theodor Gebre Selassie with insults and monkey chants. At the time the sports minister Vitaly Mutko branded those allegations "stupid and untrue". He said that the fans had in fact been complaining that Czech fans were not taking part in a Mexican wave that the Russians had attempted to get going.

In the league, there have also been a number of incidents with apparent racist overtones that have been dismissed as "misunderstandings". With Russia due to host the 2018 World Cup, there are worries among black players about the reception they might receive during the tournament. African students in the Russian capital live in fear of physical attacks, and racist chanting is often seen as acceptable "banter" by fans.

The former Brazil full-back Roberto Carlos, who spent the final seasons of his career playing for Anzhi Makhachkala, had separate incidents with fans taunting him with bananas during games at Zenit St Petersburg and Krylya Sovetov. On the second occasion, Roberto Carlos left the pitch in disgust before the end of the match. He later said he had been close to tears in the dressing room after the game and had even considered retiring from football over the incident.

An official investigation found that the Zenit fan who appeared to offer Roberto Carlos a banana had actually "been eating a banana and was then pushed in the back, forcing him to move the banana in front of him to avoid damaging it". The fan was not punished, although the Russian league fined Zenit £6,000.

In the second incident the Krylya Sovetov fan who threw the banana was identified using video footage, but also denied any racial intent, saying merely that he had thrown a banana out of anger at the fact his team were losing 3-0, and "the banana landed close to Roberto Carlos by chance". The club did not fine the fan.

The Nigeria and former Spartak Moscow striker Emmanuel Emenike was fined around £10,000 by the Russian FA when he made obscene gestures at Dynamo Moscow fans who were racially abusing him last year. The FA did not fine the club for the racist chants.

Another Moscow club, Lokomotiv, gained notoriety when its fans displayed a huge banner in English that read "Thanks West Brom" alongside a picture of a half-peeled banana, when the Nigeria winger Peter Odemwingie signed a deal with the English side. "Supporters of all teams regularly do this kind of thing," said Ivan Kalashnikov, deputy editor of the sports.ru website. "In the Russian league, people just close their eyes to it."

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