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On Saturday, the referee suspended AC Oulu’s match against Inter Turku after hearing racist comments from the crowd.
Veikkausliiga match between AC Oulu and FC Inter Turku on Saturday pause After the Judge Mohammed Al Emara Racial slurs were heard from the crowd.
Pekka SoiniThe head of the Football Association’s competition department told Yle that the incident is currently under disciplinary review and that all parties will be heard before a penalty is announced.
“Normally the consequence of this situation is that the club is fined,” Soini said. “Punishment of individuals is the club’s responsibility.”
Ban racism?
The person responsible for Saturday’s racial abuse incident has now been identified and will not be welcome at future AC Oulu home games.
The club can only ban him on a match-by-match basis, as Finnish law does not allow permanent bans on individuals.
Emara said a ban was the right approach to deal with similar incidents in the future.
“This is the first time I’ve heard of a spectator being barred from a show because of a racist incident,” Aymara said. “To me, this is a step in the right direction.”
“Such incidents should not be swept under the rug. We can say whatever we want but our actions should match the words. Right now, the words are not backed up by the actions.”
Emara started refereeing in 2012 and six years later he was in charge of Finnish Superliga matches.
“If tournament organisers can’t deal with the shouters, then we could try to play matches without spectators,” Aymara suggested. “At least then we wouldn’t have to worry about the shouting. If matches could be played behind closed doors, perhaps clubs would learn to prevent the shouting better.”
AC Oulu have since announced they will be introducing an online form to anonymously report incidents of inappropriate behaviour at matches.
Common problems
Soini said the FA has a zero-tolerance approach to incidents of racism and that broader education outside of football is needed to eliminate them.
The FA does arrange relevant training as part of referee education and records all racist incidents, but it does not count the number of matches suspended due to racism.
Al-Emara, who has himself suspended several Viking Football League games for racist comments from the crowd, said the governing body should keep statistics on such incidents.
“They should definitely keep a record of it,” Aymara said. “I’ve been suspended six or seven games for racial abuse since 2018. That shows how widespread the problem is.”
Emara, who has been named the league’s best referee five times, said most incidents of racism go undetected because referees are unable to hear everything that happens on the field.
“That’s why I’m asking for more people to share the responsibility, it can’t just be the referee’s problem,” Aymara said. “The federation and the clubs should be aware of this and find a way to solve this problem. They can’t just push the problem onto the referee to deal with.”
“We have noticed that the way we deal with incidents of racial discrimination is not effective. These cases keep happening season after season. It is time to take tougher measures.”
AC Oulu have yet to contact Al-Emara following Saturday’s incident.
“Except for a few AC Oulu players, no one from the club has apologized for what happened,” the referee said.
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