Hellas Verona have been fined €50,000 and given a partial stadium ban by the Italian league as punishment for racist chants directed at AC Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari during Sunday’s Serie A match, according to Verona’s website.
The Ghana international played the full 90 minutes of the match, but was the jeering target of a section of Verona’s supporters during the game. Muntari and his Milan mates were playing away to Verona at their Marc’ Antonio Bentegodi stadium, a match they won by 3 goals to 1.
As part of the punishment, Hellas will have the ring of the Curva Sud section empty for their next home match against Lazio on October 30.
The Lega Serie A said in a statement on Tuesday: ”Around 3,000 local supporters sitting in the Curva Sud (South section) of the stadium on two occasions during the first half of the game directed chants of racial discrimination at Sulley Muntari and those were heard in other sections of the stadium.”
Italy’s football has been bedeviled by a plethora of football-related racism problems, the latest was the president of the Italian FA, Carlo Tavecchio’s description of foreign players as ‘banana eaters’, which led to his suspension by UEFA.
Muntari’s Ghanaian compatriot Kevin Prince Boateng is also famed for leading a player boycott of a friendly match in Italy against a lower division side, Aurora Pro Patria, whose fans made monkey noises each time he touched the ball. Boateng eventually left Italy and cited racism as one of his reasons for doing so.
