Racism Abounds

On March 3rd and 4th, the Unite Against Racism conference will be held in Warsaw, Poland. The conference is a partnership between UEFA, the players' union FIFPro and the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network designed to deter racism both on and off the pitch. Sadly, this can't come soon enough.




Although Lyon were happy with their 3-1 victory over Le Havre to cement their place atop the Ligue 1 standings, the game was marred by John Mensah (seen above) receiving 2 yellow cards. The reason for his angry play on the pitch appears to be the racial insults hurled his way by a Le Havre supporter, who was eventually arrested in the 55th minute.

The entire Olympic Lyonnais club has rallied around the Ghanaian defender. Gaffer Claude Puel has stated publicly that he should have substituted Mensah when it became obvious that the player was psychologically affected by the racist taunts. In addition, club president Michel Aulas noted that the taunts began during warm-ups and were directed towards Kader Keita, Frederic Piquionne and Karim Benzema as well as Mensah, but that the latter seemed to bear the brunt of the "monkey noises" that were made.

Really? Monkey noises? Why can't people just make Titus Bramble jokes?