Referee takes players off after racist chant from Partizan Belgrade fans in Serbian league match

Partizan Belgrade have condemned racist chanting by some of the club's supporters that caused a 13-minute delay in a Serbian Super League match on Sunday evening.

With the score at 1-1, referee Milos Djordjic took the players off the field of play during the second half of Vojvodina's 3-2 home win over 27-time Serbian champions Partizan in response to discriminatory chants from away supporters.

With the match delayed, Vojvodina's Nikola Gajic scored what proved to be the winning goal in the 107th minute, with Partizan adding a consolation a minute later.

A club representative told Sky Sports News: "FK Partizan strongly condemns the racist chanting of our supporters during the match in Novi Sad.

"The players made several attempts to intervene in order to stop the chanting during the game, which is clear proof of the club's zero tolerance towards racist behaviour.

"We have in the past and will continue to work in the future with our fans towards raising awareness that racist behaviour is not accepted, nor will it be tolerated in the stands or anywhere else."

The club also stressed that the club president Milorad Vucelic and head coach Savo Milosevic, a former club-record signing for Aston Villa, had come out against the behaviour of their fans.

Sunday's discriminatory chanting in Serbia is the latest in a string of incidents of racial abuse across Europe this year.

England players suffered racist abuse during a European Qualifier in Montenegro in March, Juventus striker Moise Kean was targeted by Cagliari supporters in a Serie A game in April and several incidents marred English football last weekend, with a Brentford season-ticket holder arrested for the alleged racial abuse of Derby County's Duane Holmes.

The game was not stopped in any of those incidents, but Serbian referee Djordjic has won praise from anti-discrimination organisations for his decision to remove players from the pitch.

What is the three-step protocol?

FIFA and UEFA have a three-step procedure for handling discrimination from the crowd.

• The referee can stop the match and instruct the stadium announcer to call upon spectators to stop.

• If the announcement does not have the desired effect, the referee can suspend the match and send the players to the dressing rooms for a specific period of time.

• After consultation with other officials, and in European competitions with the UEFA delegate, the referee can decide to abandon the match as a last resort, if the discriminatory behaviour is not deemed to have stopped.

The Fare network, an organisation that seeks to combat all forms of discrimination in football in Europe, said it was particularly pleased to see the referee using his power to stop the game.

Fare's Eastern European development officer Pavel Klymenko told Sky Sports News: "The chants heard from Partizan fans have been condemned in all corners - both in Serbia and neighboring countries.

"It is encouraging to see the referee using the power he has to stop the game and take players to the locker room in the face of such abuse.

"This is how it should work, no football should be played with the accompaniment of discriminatory abuse."

Partizan supporters could be heard singing a variation on a Vojvodina song about the colour of their strip, which is half red, half white, instead describing Vojvodina and their fans as 'half Hungarian' and 'half Ustashe', an ultranationalist Croatian revolutionary movement, active between 1929 and 1945.

Recognising the provocative nature of the chants, which play on national identity and ethnic divisions in the Balkan region, the referee enacted step one and two of the UEFA protocol.

Klymenko said: "Nationalism is still a big part of the football culture in the Balkans and serves as a reminder of the many ethnic conflicts and divisions that exist."

The Serbian Super League said it could not comment on the incident until an investigation by the disciplinary commission has concluded.

A statement said: "The Super League of Serbia condemns any type of behaviour that is incompatible with sport and fair play principles."

UEFA declined to comment as the match was not a European-wide competition, saying it is a matter for the Serbian authorities, but the three-step protocol has been used in European competition before.

In 2016, a Europa League match between Sparta Prague and Lazio was stopped for one minute after Sparta's Costa Nhamoinesu complained to the referee about discriminatory chants from the Lazio supporters.