Roberto Carlos racially abused by fan waving banana in Russia
Russia's ability to stamp out racism before it hosts the FIFA World Cup in 2018 has been called into question after Brazilian football star Roberto Carlos was taunted by a fan with a half-peeled banana.
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Roberto Carlos of FC Anzhi Makhachkala in action against FC Zenit St. Petersburg Photo: AFP / GETTY
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Roberto Carlos of FC Anzhi Makhachkala in action against FC Zenit St. Petersburg Photo: AFP / GETTY
By Andrew Osborn, Moscow 4:09PM GMT 24 Mar 2011
The incident, which took place in St Petersburg last Monday before a match between Zenit St Petersburg and the Brazilian's new club, Anzhi Makhachkala, is the latest racism scandal to hit Russian football.
The 37-year-old Brazilian and former World Cup winner said he was unfazed by the abuse from an FC Zenit fan but urged the Russian authorities to get serious about tackling racism.
"This kind of behaviour by fans is unacceptable," Carlos told Russian media.
"I am sure my club and FC Zenit will do everything they can to find the culprit. That is the only way to get rid of the problem." FC Zenit, which could be punished for the incident by the Russian Football Association, said it was "deeply sorry" for any offence the unidentified fan had caused. It knew the name of the culprit and had passed it to the police but would not make it public for security reasons, it added.
The club, which is supported by much of Russia's elite including President Dmitry Medvedev, said it would ban the fan from its matches for life. It was fined £36,000 in 2008 after its fans threw bananas and made monkey chants at three black French players, while the club's previous manager, a Dutchman, has said he feared signing black players because of the fans' racist views.
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