ITALIAN COMPLACENCY

Last updated : 10 March 2003 By editor

'There is widespread anger among Uefa officials and anti-racism campaigners at the attitude shown by the clubs, given that Italian football is seen as having a chronic racism problem both on and off the field.

Major names such as Milan, Lazio, Roma and Juventus skipped the Uefa-organised conference even though they had initially stated that they would attend. Uefa will now write to clubs seeking an explanation for their absence.

There have been a number of racist incidents involving players and fans in Italy both this season and last, and both Uefa officials and anti-racism campaigners were hoping the conference would present an opportunity for clubs to learn how to put into place programmes to tackle the problem.

A source said: "We are very disappointed that no major Italian clubs attended the conference. This just goes to show the attitude among some club officials towards racism. We are hoping that Uefa will take the matter very seriously and try to ensure that Italian clubs do something about the racism problems they have within their game."

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