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| The problem has arisen again this week with Danny Rose (above) and Callum Hudson-Odoi subjected to monkey chants during England’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Montenegro in Podgorica |
Premier League managers have called for racism in football to be severely punished to act as a deterrent.
The problem has arisen again this week with Danny Rose and Callum Hudson-Odoi subjected to monkey chants during Englandโs Euro 2020 qualifier against Montenegro in Podgorica.
UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Montenegro, including a charge of racist behaviour, and there have been calls for the punishments to be harsh.
โI think that all those things that happened, my feelings are that the punishments must be very hard,โ said West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini.
โIf you give a hard punishment then it is difficult to repeat. The media must not give time to three or four stupid people, it is a huge problem.
โBut the time it happens, the punishment must be very, very hard.
โNot one player must accept this but for me, the best way is for players to keep playing and not give importance to these things and the people in charge must give big punishments.โ
Everton boss Marco Silva was in complete agreement.
โRacism has no place in football or in society,โ he said.
โIt is completely wrong and if they have to punish, they have to be strong in this situation.
โWhen you do something you have to try to stop it so it doesnโt happen again.โ
This weekโs incident was not an isolated one with Chelseaโs lodging a complaint with UEFA regarding the alleged racist abuse directed at Hudson-Odoi during their 5-0 win over Dynamo Kiev in the Ukrainian capital on March 14.
Watford manager Javi Gracia expressed his surprise that incidents were still occurring in football.
โI think itโs incomprehensible that nowadays these things happen.
โItโs a very big lack of respect,โ he said.
Huddersfield manager Jan Siewert felt there was, however, plenty of effort being put into eradicating the problem on home soil.
โFirst of all I appreciate everyone is working against it. Racism should not be tolerated at all and I appreciate the Premier Leagueโs position on that,โ he said.
โThis is an important thing for me.โ
