FIGC President Gabriele Gravina announced a new “VAR-style system” is being experimented to identify and punish racist fans. “Compromise must be shelved forever.”
The Italian rules were changed this month, meaning clubs are no longer automatically responsible for the behaviour of individual fans and will avoid punishment if they help identify and exclude those who racially abuse players.
“Perhaps in Italy we have fewer cases of discrimination than other countries, but the difference is that they are able to punctually and consistently apply sanctions, whereas we struggle to get it done,” said Gravina at a Press conference.
“We must punish people in real time, because the only way we can take steps forward is by ensuring there is certain punishment. Compromise must be shelved forever.
“What happened in Sofia (when abuse from Bulgarian fans prompted their Euro 2020 qualifier with England to be suspended twice) unfortunately proved that racism is rife all over Europe.
“We had a few incidents in Italy and people acted as if we were the epicentre of the problem, instead it is sadly all over Europe. We must all combat it with severity and determination, uniting all our strengths to react from sports to politics and the Government.”
Serie A authorities were criticised largely because some very audible racist jeers against Romelu Lukaku during Cagliari’s game with Inter were deemed not enough to warrant punishment for the club.
That, again, was because the previous rules only punished clubs and would act if there was a significant enough portion of the crowd to activate those sanctions.
“I am astonished that some chants are heard clearly and others aren’t, so we need to work out why that is. We will adopt a VAR-style system against racist abuse.
“I am not interested if the chant is clearly audible in all areas of the stadium or not. Whether it’s one person, two or 10, we have to intervene.
“Clubs today are capable of identifying those responsible by using technology. We are experimenting the system and will talk about that soon.
“We can only win this battle against racism if we are all united and concentrated on a common objective, which is to get these people out of our stadiums.”