UEFA urged to get tough with football’s racist thugs

By Tichaona Sibanda
16 October 2006

Former Caps United striker Mike Temwanjiri has spoken out about his heartache at being racially abused by supporters of his own football club Borac. The Belgrade media reported that fans in the central Serbian city of Cacak racially abused striker Temwanjira at a first division match. Borac fans wore white hoods with Ku Klux Klan insignia and held a banner saying ‘Go away because nobody likes you’ during the match against Vozdovac Belgrade. Fans were also reported to have raised their arms in a Nazi salute, and the match was held for 10 minutes as police intervened to arrest the offenders.

Temwanjiri said government officials issued an apology during a media conference where they castigated the ‘abusive’ fans. ‘I have received a lot of support from government officials here, team officials, players and the majority of fans who I must say are quite wonderful. There are however a few bad ones,’ Temwanjiri said.

The striker is playing for Borac on a year’s loan from another division one side, Habitphajavor. He said before the Saturday incident he had heard of a former Borac black player from Nigeria who had gone through a similar disgraceful ordeal.

‘I am still with the team and the management still want me to be part of that team, but I will see how events unfold in the coming few months. What happened out there Saturday was obviously bad, but those were actions of a few people with drug or drink problems,’ he said.

Serbian police on Saturday arrested the 37 fans who racially abused him.

NewZimbabwe.Com editor Mduduzi Mathuthu condemned the racist taunts and said ‘this is a tragic and a shocking episode surrounding the beautiful game. Incredibly, the fans belong to Borac. Media reports said they were released Sunday after spending a night in jail, while eight were kept in detention facing charges of ‘spreading racial hatred at a sports venue.’

Borac coach Radovan Curcic said of the incident; ‘I am absolutely gutted and it is beyond my comprehension that they could do something like this. Temwanjira was going through a hard time after the match but he has the support of all his team mates and I can say he is the favourite player in the dressing room.’