Champions League match abandoned after both teams walk off; UEFA investigating after play was halted when Pierre Webo, Basaksehir's assistant coach, was sent off; Turkish club accused the Romanian fourth official of making a racist remark
Wednesday 9 December 2020 12:45, UK
Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari says he is "deeply disturbed" by the allegations that a match official used racist language in Tuesday's Champions League match between Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir.
Romanian fourth official Sebastian Coltescu is alleged to have used a racist term when identifying Basaksehir's assistant coach, Pierre Webo, during an incident in the 14th minute of the match.
Webo was shown a red card during the exchange on the touchline and the match was later suspended when Basaksehir and Paris Saint-Germain players walked off the pitch, with the game rescheduled for Wednesday with a new team of match officials.
Bhandari believes the players were right to walk off in protest. When asked for his reaction to the events in Paris, he told Sky Sports News: "I'm really saddened to see that and deeply disturbed that it's come from a match official.
"I think the heartening thing was the reaction of both sets of players walking off the pitch. We saw this a few weeks ago in the United States, with Landon Donovan leading his team off the pitch.
"I think that genie is out of the bottle. We saw Darren Lewis on one of your programmes on Sunday talking about that and encouraging the players, that if they face that kind of abuse… your obligation is not to just stay there and entertain.
"You can use your power to walk off the pitch. I think the players did the right thing and in future they'll feel more confident to do that if something similar happens again."
UEFA released a statement on Wednesday confirming an Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector has been appointed to conduct a disciplinary investigation into the incident, and Bhandari is hopeful appropriate sanctions will be imposed if racist language is found to have been used.
"I think we have to let the process take its course and hopefully they'll do a thorough investigation and there will be appropriate sanctions," added Bhandari.
"This is a slightly different one. Normally when we're having these sort of conversations we're talking about a club, or a set of fans, or an international federation.
"Quite often there we feel that there isn't the confidence that there is an appropriate sanction. I've certainly been active in suggesting that we ought to change the way in which we articulate those sanctions.
"Rather than saying it's £10,000, or £50,000, we should do it as a percentage of turnover or gate receipts, so that it's easier then to compare. Obviously in this case it's going to be very different because it's a match official. It's probably a really unusual situation.
"Even if this person didn't get a life ban, say they got a ban with some education, I'm not sure how easy it would be for that person to officiate again and whether the players would accept that."
French football journalist Jonathan Johnson, who was at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday night, said that Paris Saint-Germain players were quick to pick up the gravity of the situation and stand in solidarity with their opponents.
Johnson told Sky Sports News the involvement of both clubs' squads and staff in the incident was "extremely powerful" as high-profile players such as Kylian Mbappe and Neymar came out to reiterate there is no room for racism in the game.
"I don't think you could argue against the power of the images that we've seen," Johnson said. "You look at the way the Basaksehir players were very quick to come to the defence of their assistant coach.
"Demba Ba played an absolutely key role in that, but I would also say that there were players in the PSG team like Kylian Mbappe and Presnel Kimpembe who took the accusations very seriously and quickly and made it clear that they would be joining Basaksehir in leaving the pitch."
Johnson added the fact the alleged racist comment came from an official is "massively damaging" and says the visiting team's players had no intention to come back out after the interruption.
"The lack of communication from UEFA in the hours after the incident only led to the controversy surrounding all of this," he said.
"The fact that it's come from somebody who has that sort of power in a match, as opposed to one of the players or fans in the stadiums - which is obviously not possible at this moment in time because of the coronavirus situation - is hugely damaging.
"It's my understanding in the stadium on the night that there was no way that the teams would come back to the pitch and play with the current team of officials in place."
Sky Sports News reporter Geraint Hughes...
UEFA and in particular their officials are under the spotlight as Sebastian Coltescu's alleged behaviour is now the subject of a thorough investigation by his employers.
It's not simple to become a UEFA official. As you would expect the men and women selected from National Associations across the continent are the best of the best.
UEFA give them the tools to their job. There are two conference meetings a year, one in winter and one prior to a start of a season, while ongoing dialogue flows between UEFA's refereeing hierarchy and the officials.
While a comprehensive understanding of the laws of the game, interpretation and implementation for officials is clear from reading through various UEFA publications, along with a Code of Conduct which focuses on betting and match fixing, you have to delve into UEFA's General Terms and Conditions to find out a little more.
While not specifically referencing language, cultural sensitivities or race, the behaviour expected of a UEFA official is clear.
UEFA say that match officials "must refrain from any action whatsoever which could be of an unsporting nature and/or contrary to UEFA's interests", and that they must "behave in a professional and appropriate manner before, during and after any UEFA match for which they have been appointed."
The Conditions also state that "match officials undertake to apply and respect the Laws of the Game published by FIFA as well as UEFA's Statutes, regulations, directives, decisions, instructions and circular letters," with UEFA also adding that "any breach by match officials and/or national associations of these General Terms and Conditions or of the UEFA's Statutes, regulations, directives, decisions, instructions or circulars letters could result in proceedings being opened by UEFA's disciplinary bodies."
UEFA have long stated they have a zero tolerance stance to racism. Current FIFA President Gianni Infantino said so when he was UEFA General Secretary, while current UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, one month after being elected to UEFA's top job in 2016, said "racism, discrimination and intolerance have no place in football... I believe strongly that we must stand up to racism and all forms of discrimination, and I am proud of the work done by UEFA and our partners in tackling these issues."
There were more positive scenes at The Den on Tuesday night, as Millwall supporters applauded their players for displaying an anti-racism message ahead of their match against QPR.
In contrast to Saturday's game against Derby, there were no boos heard as QPR players and match officials took a knee ahead of kick-off, although the home side opted not to take the knee.
Both sets of players also linked arms and held aloft a banner which said 'Inequality' with the 'In' crossed out, as a show of solidarity against racism and other social injustices.
Millwall also wore Kick It Out's logo on their matchday shirts in place of one of their main sponsors and Bhandari was pleased with the support shown by the Championship club.
"Probably like the rest of the world we were all holding our breath and hoping that the fans would respect what was going on, on the pitch," he said.
"I was pleased to see that there was applause and cheers. Ultimately what do we want to create with this? We want to create unity and cohesion.
"It may be a different message to what other clubs are using, it may be different to taking the knee, but ultimately they've got all the club behind it.
"They've got the fans and the players, and it was really important that the players were part of this.
"What we wanted to create was the ability for the players to protest in a way in which they felt comfortable and free from the risk of sanction."
Bhandari added: "QPR haven't been taking the knee but decided to last night. That's a free choice.
"What I would rather us focus on is, this created some cohesion and unity and that's actually what we're after."
