Balotelli’s representative, Mino Raiola, had accused Michel Platini, the Uefa president, of refusing to back the Manchester City striker over his wish to “walk off the pitch and go home” if he was subjected to racial taunts during the tournament.

However, the Italy manager, Cesare Prandelli yesterday rejected claims that the 21-year-old had been abused as “absolutely untrue” even though eyewitness accounts reported otherwise.

Thomas Herzog, member of the FSE Fans Embassy team for Spanish supporters, said: “We were present during the match inside the football stadium and stayed inside the stand of the Spanish supporters over the entire course of the match.

“At some point during the match then, about 200 supporters started monkey chants when the Italian player Mario Balotelli touched the ball.”

The stain of racism is threatening to overshadow the tournament after several Dutch players were subjected to monkey noises during an open training session in Cracow last Wednesday.

Having initially played down the incident, Uefa was forced into a U-turn, admitting that there had been “isolated incidents of racist chanting” aimed at the black players in Holland’s squad, adding that it had “a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to discriminatory behaviour”.

The alleged incidents all affect venues in Poland. Uefa says it has received no reports of racial abuse during the four group matches played so far at Ukrainian venues.

Markiyan Lubkivskyi, Uefa’s tournament director in Kiev, said: “There are no incidents to report ... Nobody made any comments to us regarding racism — no players, no teams, no fans.”

Source: http://massnewsmedia.com/sport/6275/italy-forward-mario-balotelli-racially-abused-during-his-sides-euro-2012-match/

What exactly is the zero tolerance policy? Saying you have a zero tolerance policy doesn't cover it. How have they planned to enforce it? What measures do they plan to take on people that cross the line? Have they taken such action to date? What have they done to curb the offence? They need to nip this bullshyte in the bud its getting a bit too much, this year alone has seen excessive racism and we're in the 21st centuary. Racism should never be tolerated, be it in football, handball netball, basketball or transgender beauty pageants. I'm soo sick and tired of it.

[img]http://www.50centloseweight.com[/img]Good point