FIFA and UEFA should come down extremely hard on Pro Patria

As Steve reported earlier, in the 26th minute of a friendly match against fourth-division club Pro Patria, Kevin-Prince Boateng calmly picked up the ball, drop kicked it into the stands, and walked off a field after being subjected to racist chants. The rest of his AC Milan teammates followed at the behest of captain Massimo Ambrosini.

The soccer world, rightly so, is applauding their actions. They were courageous and honorable at a time when too much of this horrible behavior goes unpunished.

But, unfortunately, it never should have gotten to this point. According to the New York Times, there were “announcements over the stadium’s public-address system [that] failed to quell the chants coming from the stands.“

In other words, the PA announcer went to the trouble of telling the fans to stop the racist chanting, they didn’t listen, and the game continued… until Boateng took matters into his own hands. That’s terrible. Just plain despicable. Pro Patria’s owners or management or someone with power should have taken action well before one of Milan’s players was forced to. Yes, canceling a game is a serious matter, but it pales in comparison to subjecting the men on the field to racism.

I know — or, at least, I imagine — that sadly this isn’t an isolated incident. Pro Patria (“For the Fatherland”) should be penalized, and penalized harshly. And so should any other team whose fans chant racist messages. This isn’t a PA announcer thing. This is a call the game thing. Full stop.

Two more thoughts, courtesy of Rob Stone:

Mr. Blatter, when not taking shots at #MLS , perhaps you may want to address these actions….AGAIN. msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/cham… via @foxsports

— Rob Stone (@RobStoneONFOX) January 3, 2013

Interesting take “@nculic: @robstoneonfoxoddly enough, this could be a selling point for non-caucasian greats to come to the MLS.”

— Rob Stone (@RobStoneONFOX) January 3, 2013

If you haven’t seen the incident: