The world expects to see great football when Euro 2012 kicks off on June 8. Many experts believe the European championship is the best on the planet, better even than the World Cup whose talent was diluted when it increased in size. But along with the fancy footwork, on display in co-hosts Poland and Ukraine could also be fans giving Nazi salutes, taunting black players with monkey noises and general mob violence in soccer stadiums and on the streets. A BBC Panorama investigative program on football violence contained footage of all of the above, plus a group of Asian students being viciously attacked at one of the Ukrainian stadiums which will be hosting matches. Poland and in particular Ukraine have hit back, saying these things also happen in Western Europe - and they are right. Racism is strikingly apparent in Spain where its fans do not think there is anything wrong with making monkey sounds whenever a black player touches the ball. England practically invented the words “hooligans” and “skinheads”. When in the Premiership, Egypt's star Mido was constantly the victim of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim taunts. The Islamophobic abuse he was often greeted with was: “terrorist”, “Bin Laden”, and “he's got a bomb, you know”. The Ukraine also pointed out it did not have inter-ethnic violence on its streets like the rioting that rocked London last year and which engulfed Paris and other French cities in 2005. In truth, for all its democratic shortcomings, Ukraine is more plural and arguably less racist than its mighty neighbor Russia which has been awarded the 2018 World Cup. Despite Ukraine's protests, the foreign ministries of Denmark and France have issued advice to visitors about the risk of racist attacks. Kiev is already facing a potential boycott by top European Union leaders over the alleged mistreatment of the opposition leader and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko who is in jail on what critics say are trumped-up corruption charges. So a competition which the Ukraine had hoped would showcase it as a modern state eligible to join the European Union could translate into low ticket sales and reduced tourist revenue to the detriment of its indebted economy. The UEFA said it was confident that Ukraine can ensure the safety of the 800,000 foreign fans expected at the three-week tournament. That is what is hoped for because even though FIFA flatly prohibits the entrance of politics, religion and racism into soccer, in the best of European countries east and west, players and supporters who look and worship and come from places different from host countries are constantly targeted verbally and physically. Many punitive measures could be tried to quash far-right supporters who use football and violence to propagate political agendas: fines levied against hecklers and which cover banners bearing racist slogans; a warning over the public address system, something akin to a yellow card; the expulsion of the offending country from the World Cup; and banning culprit spectators. Soccer's watchdog bodies must redefine the bounds of acceptable conduct for fans and resolve to permanently exclude those who overstep these bounds. __
