Anti-racist watchdog recruits monitors for Euro 2012

PanARMENIAN.Net - A pan-European racism watchdog said on Wednesday, March 14 that it was recruiting monitors for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, amid concerns about links between the far right and football hooligans, AFP reported.

Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) said it wanted to deploy two monitors at each game during the upcoming European championships, which kick off in Poland in June and end in Ukraine on July 1.

"Monitoring racist and discriminatory chanting and symbols has been a key element of the FARE programme over a number of tournaments from Euro 2004 in Portugal, the World Cup in Germany in 2006 and Euro 2008 Austria and Switzerland," FARE said.

"In Poland and Ukraine the need for monitoring will arguably be even more important because of the prevalence of far-right banners and potential for racist, homophobic and other forms of discriminatory abuse and interactions," it added.

FARE will work with European football's governing body UEFA and the Warsaw-based anti-racist movement Never Again, which in 1996 launched Poland's first football-focused campaign.

In the run-up to Euro 2012, Never Again has provided anti-racism training for almost 7,000 stadium stewards who will work in the domestic leagues after the tournament.