Italian club Lazio has been charged over
the "alleged racist behavior" of its fans
during November's Europa League clash
with Tottenham. Supporters of the Rome side mocked the
English team's links with the Jewish
community by chanting "Juden Tottenham,
Juden Tottenham" ("Tottenham Jews" in
German) in the 0-0 draw in the Italian
capital. Tottenham has a large contingent of
Jewish supporters, while Lazio has long
had fans with right wing sympathies. "Proceedings will also be instigated
against S.S. Lazio for throwing of missiles
and/or fireworks by their supporters,
incidents of a non-sporting nature, late
team arrival at the stadium, and late
handling of the team sheet," European football's governing body UEFA said on
Monday. It added that Tottenham also faces
charges related to crowd disturbances at
the Group J game, which took place 24
hours after a knife attack on its fans in
Rome. It is not the first time this season that
Lazio supporters have been accused of
racism, with the club fined ?40,000 (US$
52,000) for abuse directed at Tottenham's
black players during the clubs' previous
meeting in London in September. The charges, which will be heard on
January 24, continue a bad week for the
standing of football in Italy, with the
country's reputation having also been
"damaged" in the eyes of former prime
minister Silvio Berlusconi after last week's racism walkoff involving AC Milan. Former Ghana international Kevin-Prince
Boateng made global headlines when he
reacted to abusive chanting from a section
of Pro Patria fans in a friendly against the
fourth tier side by walking off the pitch --
and the entire Milan side followed him. His actions earned widespread praise,
including from Milan owner Berlusconi
himself, but FIFA president Sepp Blatter is
not among those who believe that
Boateng's behavior was a step in the right
direction. "Walk off? That's not the solution," Blatter
was reported to have said in Abu Dhabi-
based newspaper The National.

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