Euro 2012 a boost for anti-racism

Euro 2012 has boosted the battle against racism in Eastern European football, thanks in part to a strong stand on high-profile incidents, defender-turned-campaigner Paul Elliott said on Wednesday. Elliott, who became Chelsea's first black captain in 1991, has won wide recognition for his anti-racism work and was recently honoured by Queen Elizabeth II. Since the Iron Curtain fell two decades ago, far-right groups have fed on and stoked social and ethnic tensions across the ex-communist bloc. They have found fertile ground among some fans who worship England's once-notorious hooligan "firms". "The extreme right uses football to launch their recruitment drives," underlined Elliott. But he noted that in the run-up to the European championship, the foreign media's stark depiction of the problem in host nations Poland and Ukraine had been misplaced. "What was correct was there have been issues in Poland and Ukraine. But there are issues in the whole of Europe," he told AFP in an interview in the Polish capital Warsaw, which on Thursday hosts Germany's semi-final with Italy. "You can go to parts of London, in the wrong place at the wrong time, and be susceptible to the same violence. That's a fact," said Elliott, who hails from the British capital and has also played for Scottish giants Celtic and Italy's Pisa. "For me, it was important for Poland and Ukraine to be given the Euros, for an opportunity to use the power of football to address and challenge these areas. And I think it's been hugely successful," he added. Elliott works closely with Polish anti-racism campaigners and has visited the region frequently. Despite concerns about racist violence by Polish and Ukrainian hooligans, it has been fans of other teams who have grabbed the headlines during the tournament. One of the highest-profile cases involved racist taunts directed by Croatia fans at black Italy striker Mario Balotelli - which earned the Croatian Football Federation an 80,000-euro ($100,000, 64,000-pound) fine from UEFA. In its wake, Croatia coach Slaven Bilic slammed racist fans, saying he did not want his team being supported by such individuals and that they should be kept out of football. Elliott hailed the fact that former West Ham and Everton defender Bilic had spoken out, saying it was up to football insiders to make a stand. "I have one word to describe that: Leadership. I think that Bilic is not only a decent man, but having plied his trade in England, understands integration and the power of what football can do," Elliott said. "What Bilic said, every coach and manager must say if their supporters behave inappropriately like that. Saying 'I don't want those kind of people supporting our country' is a powerful, serious message," he added. There have been suggestions that once outside attention shifts elsewhere after the Euro 2012 final in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on Sunday, anti-racism campaigners in the region will find themselves back at square one. "The critical moment comes after the Euros. We all know that the issue of hooliganism and racism is a genuine issue in both Poland and Ukraine," said Rafal Pankowski of Warsaw-based group Never Again, which in 1996 launched Poland's first football-focused campaign. Part of the Football Against Racism in Europe network, it has run a major campaign ahead of and during Euro 2012, backed by UEFA. "We must not think that change will continue automatically if we don't sustain it," Pankowski told AFP.