Spartak Moscow Create Fund to Fight Racism

© RIA Novosti . Ilya Pitalev / Go to the mediabankLeonid Fedun
Leonid Fedun - Sputnik International
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Spartak Moscow owner Leonid Fedun announced Tuesday that his club is financing a program aimed at stamping out racism and anti-Semitism in the Russian game.

Spartak Moscow owner Leonid Fedun announced Tuesday that his club is financing a program aimed at stamping out racism and anti-Semitism in the Russian game.

Russian football has been blighted by isolated yet persistent episodes of racism in recent years, including the throwing of bananas at dark-skinned players such as Anzhi pair Roberto Carlos and Christopher Samba.

The issue touched Spartak after their Nigerian striker Emanuel Emenike showed the middle finger to Dynamo fans whom he accused of racist chanting during the Muscovites' 3-1 league win.

Fedun said on the club's website that he was unveiling an anti-xenophobia foundation.

"This foundation will first of all will conduct special public actions aimed at instilling a good atmosphere in the stands of Russian stadiums," Fedun said. "So that the fans even during the most hard-core chanting don't revert to national and race issues."

He vowed that "every home game" would feature his anti-xenophobia drive, though stopped short of describing what it might involve.

Spartak supporters are notorious for containing radical ultranationalist elements.

In late 2010, thousands descended on the Kremlin chanting racist slogans in protest at police inaction over the killing of one of the club's supporters allegedly by people from the Caucasus.

Fedun, meanwhile, took the opportunity to fire a barb at Zenit St. Petersburg for an alleged policy of refusing to sign black players, while criticizing the club for failing to stop its fans from provoking Emenike.

"Every club forms its own transfer policy," Fedun said. "I want to accentuate something else: Whatever the composition of the club, no one releases it from the obligation of working with the fans to fight xenophobia in the stands."

The Russian Football Union said late last month it had assembled a dedicated taskforce to tackle racism in the country, which is set to host the 2018 World Cup

 

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