Monday 20 July 2015

Emmanuel Frimpong-Ex Arsenal Player reacts to 'monkey chants'

Former Arsenal player Emmanuel
Frimpong was sent off playing for
Russian side FC Ufa after he gestured
to the crowd with his middle finger in
response to alleged monkey chants.
The midfielder, 23, was playing away
to Spartak Moscow in the opening
game of the Russian Premier League
season.
"When the match was stopped, the
fans started shouting 'monkey' at
me," said Ghana's Frimpong after the
2-2 draw.
"I just did not keep my cool, I showed
my emotions and it was my mistake."
Frimpong was shown the red card
after half an hour of the game in
Moscow, with the score at 1-1.
He wrote on Twitter after the match:
"A human being shouldn't be racially
abused for the game that I love. I'm
going to serve a sentence for being
abused."
Ufa general director Shamil Gazizov
said his club would not be calling for
Spartak to be punished, describing it
as an "unfortunate incident".
"There were people who could have
shouted things. These are emotions
which go away after the game. We are
partners with the red and whites and
are on good terms," he said.
"What Frimpong did was wrong.
Sometimes you even have to hold
back the tears and just put up with
it."
Russia hosts the next World Cup in
2018, and Frimpong added: "Abused...
and yet we going to hold a World Cup
in this country where Africans will
have to come play football."
Manchester City and Ivory Coast
midfielder Yaya Toure, who has been
racially abused while playing in
Russia in the Champions League, has
previously said black players might
boycott the World Cup unless the
country tackles racism in football.
Last season, Dynamo Moscow's
Congolese defender Christopher
Samba was banned for two matches
for gesturing to fans following racist
abuse.
There have been more than 200 cases
of discriminatory behaviour linked to
Russian football over the past two
seasons.
But in March former head of Russian
football Vyacheslav Koloskov said too
much is made of racism in the
country and has also questioned why
monkey chants are assumed to be
racist.

BBC SPORT

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