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Racism is barbaric and Uefa must deal with it, says ex-Poland international Emmanuel Olisadebe
Jun 9, 2012 10:49:00 AM
Euro 2012 is under threat of being blighted by racism in eastern Europe after the Netherlands squad were subjected to monkey chants during one of their training sessions
Former Poland international Emmanuel Olisadebe has called racism "barbaric" and urged Uefa to deal with it properly at Euro 2012.The Netherlands squad were subjected to monkey chants during one of their training sessions in Krakow on Wednesday, with fears that the unsavoury issue could blight the tournament.
The Nigeria-born man feels that in the modern day, incidents like this should be punished heavily by the authorities.
"I think it's barbaric, it's not right," Olisadebe told CNN.
"Some people feel that European teams should have only white players playing for them, and this is a European competition and it should be only for white people.
"This is 2012, we don't live in that kind of world anymore. We have to face this problem. It's a problem so we have to face it now or later and Uefa has decided to face it now and we will face it now," he stated.
The 33-year-old went on to speak of his experience of playing in eastern Europe and dealing with racism, and hopes that other competitors do not have to go through the same.
"It was really heavy on me. I'd never experienced something like that in the games where they made these monkey noises and throw bananas at you.
"I also heard this from other black players in other teams, they experienced the same thing. And in Poland it's there, the racism in football, but I think it's everywhere. The same in Poland, the same everywhere else.
"The first moment was really depressing. I just had to live with it and I'm still here today. I played for Poland and I don't regret anything. I look at it as part of life.
"I had a few bananas thrown at me in one or two games. But afterwards my fellow team-mates stood behind me and they voiced out that if you throw bananas on Emmanuel you do it to everybody and you have to respect everybody.
"They were behind me and after then it never happened again," he concluded.
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