Uefa were due to receive reports on Tuesday from their representatives at Montenegro’s Euro 2020 qualifier with England, as well as testimonies from independent observers, before beginning an investigation into racist chants directed at the visiting players.
A complaint was lodged by England with the delegate present at Monday’s game after Danny Rose was subjected to monkey chants following his booking for a foul in stoppage time of the 5-1 victory. Callum Hudson-Odoi said he and Rose had heard supporters “saying monkey stuff”, including during the first half, with Raheem Sterling making a point of cupping his ears towards the most vociferous section of Montenegro fans after scoring England’s fifth goal.
Gareth Southgate suggested the Uefa delegate had also heard the chants, with the anti-discrimination body, Fare, to support the Football Association’s complaint of racist abuse. It had designated the game as high risk and sent an experienced observer who is understood to have confirmed the abuse was clearly audible, most notably after Rose’s caution. Its report was to be submitted to Uefa on Tuesday morning.
Sterling called for Uefa to close stadiums if even a minority of fans are found guilty of racist chants, with a partial closure the minimum punishment under Uefa’s disciplinary regulations if a case is proved. A second offence is punishable with one match played behind closed doors and a fine of €50,000, with sanctions becoming steeper from a stadium closure to forfeiting of ties, deduction of points to disqualification from the competition altogether.
“It is a shame we are talking about this,” Sterling said. “It is 2019 and there should be a real punishment for this, not just for the few people being banned. You can fine people but what’s that going to do? It needs to be a collective thing. This stadium holds 15,000 and I think the punishment should be that, as a nation, if your fans are chanting racist abuse, it should be the whole stadium can’t watch it. Then when that ban is lifted your fans will think twice about doing anything silly like that, because they all love football, they all want to be there to support their nation. So it will make them think twice to do something silly like that.”
Hudson-Odoi, so impressive on his first senior start, had been the subject of monkey chants from a small number of Dynamo Kyiv supporters during Chelsea’s 5-0 Europa League win at the Olympic stadium earlier this month. The Premier League club submitted a complaint to Uefa, with the disciplinary body yet to announce their findings on the allegations.
“I don’t think discrimination should happen anywhere – we’re equal,” said the 18-year-old, who picked up a cigarette lighter thrown on to the pitch after Sterling’s goal. “But when you’re hearing stuff like that from the fans, it’s not right. It’s unacceptable. Hopefully Uefa deal with it properly. When Rosey and I went over there, we heard it in the first half, we heard it. They were saying monkey stuff.
“I’ve had it before at Dynamo. It’s a situation we hope Uefa deal with properly. We just have to keep our heads, keep a strong mentality. We’ll have a chat about what happened but hopefully Uefa will do something. It’s not right. It’s never right.”