(CNN) -- Russian football has been blighted by a series of high-profile incidents of racial abuse in recent times, an issue the country's soccer administrators are eager to address ahead of the FIFA World Cup arriving in 2018.
Global attention was drawn to the issue when veteran Anzhi Makhachkala full-back Roberto Carlos, a World Cup winner with Brazil in 2002, was subjected to abuse by both Zenit St. Petersburg and Krylya Sovetov fans.
As a result of the abuse, which included the former Real Madrid star having a banana thrown at him, both clubs were fined $10,000.
And racism in the Russian Premier League has been brought back into focus by events on Sunday, when Carlos' Congolese teammate Christopher Samba was subjected to the same form of abuse.
Samba, who moved to Anzhi from English Premier League side Blackburn Rovers last month, had a banana thrown at him from the VIP box of Lokomotiv Moscow's Lokomotiv Stadium.
Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was handed an eight-match ban by the English Football Association for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra in a match in October 2011. Suarez refused to shake Evra's hand during the customary pre-match ritual ahead of the teams' clash on February 12 this year. The Uruguayan has since apologized for his snub of the France defender.
Racism incidents in football
"We are deeply disappointed with the idiotic episode that happened to our player Christopher Samba after the match at Lokomotiv," read a statement from the Dagestan-based team.
"We are assured that the representatives of the football authorities, the security service of Lokomotiv, will settle this issue and the guilty will be identified and punished."
An investigation into the incident was launched on Tuesday and the Russian Football Union (RFU) have now gone one step further by launching a dedicated anti-racism taskforce.
"The RFU's ethics committee has decided to create a special working group made up of members of the committee," the organization said on its website. The group will be tasked with battling "racism, xenophobia and extremism."
France-born defender Samba was upset by the incident and slammed the action as a poor example to young fans.
"I`m very upset that such misconduct took place in view of children who were sitting in those very stands. It can serve as a bad example for them.
"I try not to think about racism. I just want to believe that such problems do not exist on a global basis. Maybe I am mistaken but I do want to believe in it.
"As a rule any scandal of this kind is a result of a misconduct committed by one silly person. I don`t want to react to this."
The Russian Premier League vowed to hunt down the fan who had hurled the banana at the 27-year-old.
"Our aim is to find the man who threw banana at Samba," the league's security Alexander Meitin was reported to have said by AFP.
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chelsea captain John Terry will face trial in July for alleged racist abuse of Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match on October 23. Terry, who was stripped of the England captaincy, denies the charges.
A fan was banned from attending all football matches for three years after directing racist abuse at Liverpool defender Glen Johnson during a match on January 3. Andrew Dale, 36, was also fined £400 ($628).
Police are investigating alleged racist abuse by a fan of third division Oldham Athletic's Tom Adeyemi during a FA Cup tie with Liverpool on January 6.
Manchester City defender Micah Richards closed his Twitter account in February after receiving sustained abuse from other users. "I did enjoy Twitter and the banter with the fans, but I didn't like the abuse you get on it," he said. "I thought it was just for the best for myself because it can affect your confidence if people are saying things about you. I just thought it was best to come off and concentrate fully on football."
Manchester City lodged an official complaint with European football's governing body UEFA last week after Italy striker Mario Balotelli complained of racist chanting during a Europa League match against Porto.
Bugaria's football association was fined €40,000 ($53,000) in November 2011 after England complained about racist abuse of winger Ashley Young during an international match in Sofia.
Brazilian World Cup winner Roberto Carlos walked off the pitch while playing for Russian team Anzhi Makhachkala against Krylya Sovetov in June 2011, after having a banana thrown towards him in the closing stages of the match.
Samuel Eto'o, one of Africa's greatest players, tried to walk off the pitch in protest after being racially abused while playing for Barcelona against Real Zaragoza in Spain in 2006. His teammates and the referee persuaded him to stay on.
The Malaysian FA apologized to Chelsea in Julyn 2011, when Israeli midfielder Yossi Benayoun was subject to racial slurs during a pre-season game in the country.
In 2008, German midfielder Torsten Ziegner was banned five matches for racially abusing Nigerian opponent Kingsley Onuegbu during a lower league match.
|