Juventus hit with another racism fine
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China Daily, February 1, 2012
Juventus has been fined once again for racist chanting by its fans, this time during Saturday's 2-1 victory against Udinese in Serie A.
Colombian wingback Pablo Armero (pictured) and Cape Verde-born Switzerland midfielder Gelson Fernandes were the victims of racist chanting during both halves.
Juve has been hit with a 10,000 euro ($13,172 ) fine, the same amount it was docked in October after racist chanting during its win at Inter Milan.
The Old Lady of Turin's fans have a sorry record when it comes to racist chants as they regularly abused Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli - an Italian of Ghanaian origin - during his Inter days.
During the 2008-09 season, Juve had to play a match behind closed doors after its fans racially abused Balotelli following a controversial incident during the team's clash with Inter.
That seemed to anger and galvanise certain sections of Juve supporters who proceeded to regularly target Balotelli, even when not playing against his team.
The next season, the club was punished four times, including a partial stand-closure once, for fans' anti-Balotelli chants.
That season it was hit with 25,000-euro and 20,000-euro fines as well as the closure of the stand holding its "Ultra" fans for one match, whereas this season the sanctions have been tame in comparison.
It's not just Juve involved in racist chanting, though, as Cagliari and Brescia have also been fined for the same offense over the past couple of years.
Last season's Cagliari-Inter clash was briefly suspended due to such chants - although the Sardinian club's then-coach Pierpaolo Bisoli suggested afterward that normal angry chants against an opponent's player, Samuel Eto'o, had been mistaken for having a racial nature.
Balotelli was even abused by Italy fans when on international duty against Romania in a friendly in Austria in November 2010.
He said he was hurt by the chants he suffered.
"I had to learn to live with racism in Italy, to pretend it was nothing, but it burned," he said back then.
"In England, that doesn't happen. But it shouldn't happen anywhere."
Back in 2007, before Manchester United played Roma in a Champions League match, Frenchman Louis Saha claimed he was expecting to be racially abused.
"We are traveling to Italy, and in those kind of places it seems like they are used to it. They don't fight it like we have done in England," said Saha, then of United but now at Everton.
"They are starting to recognize it and think about it, but not very strongly - whereas England is a good example of where it has been tackled."
The next year, former Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura, who had played in Italy for Reggina, said racism in the country discouraged foreigners from moving to Serie A.
"Sometimes you get racism ... not in Scotland but in Italy, which is not nice, and that probably explains why so few Japanese players have made it (in Italy)," he said when at Celtic.
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