http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18260738 So, either the Ukraine or Poland is playing Italy, with Balotelli looking like he's on fire... what is the crowd going to do? Now that he's threatened to walk off the pitch, he'll have all the bananas in Poland thrown at him! I know that he is trying to draw the world's attention to the appalling racism in that part of the world, but surely the best thing he can do, as a professional footballer, is rise above it. How on earth can his manager pick him to play, now that he's issued this threat?
Maybe he was talking about racial abuse from his own fans? Some groups of Italian supporters still aren't the most accepting of black players.
In this case, I think it's more likely that Balotelli is trying to draw attention to Balotelli, more than anything else. There is, of course, no reason why any player should have to tolerate having abuse heaped upon him - unless it's John Terry - that's different!
I can just see Terry walking if there is racist abuse of England's players. Will help his court case no end.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/nov/18/mario-balotelli-racist-abuse-italy Compared to some of the scenes in that Panorama programme it's very infrequent minorities but unfortunately it's still there.
I don't care what his motivation is (though I think it may be suspect), but if he walks that will be his greatest achievement in 'football'. What do UEFA do? Punish a player more than they punish racism? The penalties so far handed out have been beyond ludicrous and in fact they've rewarded some of the places with the worst record by, er, giving them the Euros!
If Ashley Young misses a sitter and John Terry runs towards him, lip-readers will have a field day...
fair play Balotelli if his intentions are real...however he is an attention whore and this is all part of the 'Balotelli show'....im sure if you asked all the coloured players what they would do..then they would say the same too..however this dik has to make sure he gets in first...dont rate him and his bitch ways....this is the same guy who stamped on Parker then pretended to show concern....i wont see him as my hero if he did what any sane human would do and walk....hes no messiah...dikhed he is though.
The problem I have with this is this. You tell a crowd of bigots that if they do "a, b, or c" you will do "x, y, or z" you are certain to bring about the very thing that you want to avoid. I cannot see how the Italian coach can take Balotelli to the Euros, given this threat, let alone play him. If Balotelli wants to send a message to UEFA, refuse to go to the Finals. Don't provoke an already flammable situation.
very true HIAG....that would show some real intent....footballers are glory seeking ladyboys at the end of the day so i dont expect any of them to make moral stances...just blow hot air as usual.
wasn't it Lilian Thuram that had a horrendous time involving racism in italy similar to this? I seem to remember watching a documentary about it a fair few years ago. I can't remember entirely, but I'm sure he had problems with his own fans too. The competition is has the making of an absolute farce. How farcical it could turn out to be, is very worrying. I have a feeling that the violence, hatred and racism will completely dominate the news, rather than the results on the pitch. What an irresponsible decision this was. disgraceful.
Indeed. Perhaps this is why, not to be outdone in controversy by UEFA, that FIFA awarded the World Cup to Qatar for 2022?
Balotelli is an insane idiot. But this is one time when his insane idiocy could well be put to good use. Because he does indeed love controversy and media attention this is something he could actually do and if he does it'll probably be the best thing he's done in the game so far in his career. I honestly think that Ukraine and their fans and the police who support them and UEFA who deny there's a problem can all go **** themselves and their stupid tournament if anything similar to what we saw in Panorama happens. I would actually much rather see games descend into chaos and the tournament get cancelled than to have the problem glossed over and/or ignored.
What's the betting that the racism and football hooliganism in the Ukraine turns out to be no worse nor any more prevalent than in the UK? The Scots still drag religious bigotry into their game, FFS! And I doubt that any of those idiots have ever seen the inside of a church!
Err - have you seen the Panorama programme? Cos 100% of a small sample of games having loads of fans doing nazi salutes doesn't sound like the UK to me. Nor loads of symbols of far-right groups on scarves and T-Shirts. Or people being subjected to organised assaults in the ground cos they are Asian. Or the police denying that there is ANY racism at all but choosing to believe that hundreds of fans doing a fascist salute and chanting Zieg Heil is just pointing at the away fans. Through that one programme alone I'm happy to conclude that it is much, much worse there than here.
