Domenech: Spanish fans racially abused my players
Domenech: Spanish fans racially abused my players
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Thursday, 29, Jun 2006 10:02
France manager Raymond Domenech has claimed his side were racially abused by Spanish supporters before their World Cup second round match.
Domenech says their opponent's fans surrounded the team bus on its arrival at the AWD-Arena, jeering the French team and subjecting the side's black players to racial taunts.
"When I arrived with the bus and there are fans who making monkey chants or whatever, then I just turned my head away," he said.
"I didn't even look at them because I did not want to grant them that privilege."
The game in Hanover saw France come from behind to dump Spain out of the World Cup, but news of the race row is likely to reignite the bad blood between the two teams following comments earlier this year by Luis Aragones.
Aragones described Arsenal and France striker Thierry Henry as a "black s***" during a training camp two years ago in what he said was a bid to motivate team-mate Jose Antonio Reyes.
While Aragones was fined for the incident, the desultory nature of the sum - £2,000 – was widely descried.
Fifa will be anxious to resolve the issue as it unveils new plans to combat racism in football this week, with the world governing body vowing to crack down on those national associations which are not tackling the problem.