Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Two Football Games Interrupted Due to Hate Chants


Over a period of a few days, two top Dutch football games in the playoffs for admittance to the international UEFA competition were interrupted by the referees due to hate chants by fans. They later allowed the games to continue. At the game between NAC and Twente the fans of NAC called the referee “son of a whore.” In 2003 an advisory committee of the Dutch Football Association (KNVB) published a list of unacceptable hate chants. These included insulting and threatening words, but also words such as Hamas, goat fucker, and all references to whores, illnesses and genitals. Furthermore, it is forbidden to hiss (referral to gassing the Jews), or to bleat (reference to the slaughter of sheep, used against Muslim players). It took many years of such behavior before the KNVB took action against it.

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