GFA slams racist chants against Frimpong

Sports News of Monday, 20 July 2015

Source: allsports.com.gh

Emmanuel Frimpong 07.10Ghana int’l midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) condemns in the strongest possible terms the vile racist abuse suffered by Ghana international midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong during a recent league match in Russia.

The racist and discriminatory incident, which took place on Friday night, was apparently perpetrated by some Spartak Moscow supporters who directed monkey noises at Emmanuel Frimpong who plays for UFA.

While we do not condone Frimpong’s reaction to the racist abuse he suffered, it beats our imagination that his club UFA criticised the Ghanaian player without condemning the Spartak Moscow supporters who provoked him with this despicable racist abuse.

The act of singling out Frimpong for criticism, when he was clearly provoked by these money chants while the perpetrators of the act have been let off, indelibly stain football’s tenets and principles.

Such actions only serve as ammunition to the perpetrators of this crime to return to the stadia to subject black and African footballers to more racist abuse.

As this incident occurred within a stadium in Russia, it is within the Russian Football Union, UEFA and FIFA’s remit to act. It is a matter for all the concerned football authorities to investigate the incident further and the culprits brought to justice as soon as possible.

The GFA wants the football authorities to act by sending a strong signal to the racists who abused Emmanuel Frimpong on Friday that there is no complacency about dealing with the scourge of racism in football across the globe.

The fight against racism and discrimination in football is taking root and it cannot be turned back by the nonchalance of those football authorities who are not keen on rooting out this evil that shames our game and human dignity