FAI CEO, Fran Rooney, has called for supporter power to come into play to eradicate racist-based treatment of players at football matches - starting against Australia next Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Rooney revealed that the FAI have been effectively given a yellow card by UEFA, following the continued booing of certain opposition players because of their association with Glasgow Rangers - over the last number of years.
"The bottom line is that the reputation of the Irish fans is tarnished. We've got the best fans in the world but if this continues, it will disappear," he said. "It seems to start with a small group of people and then build from there. From correspondence I have received, I can see that some people didn't know why they are booing and think it was just fun because the player had a few bad touches and the booing was just putting him off.
"But I have also received letters from people in the North of Ireland who are Protestant who were personally abused for asking people to stop booing. We've got a situation that is racist but also bigoted and sectarian."
A complaint by a member of the public about the booing of Georgia and Glasgow Rangers' striker Shota Arveladze was made to UEFA following Ireland's 2-0 victory over Georgia in June, and Rooney stated that UEFA had taken a very dim view of the situation.
"I personally rang Shota Arveladze after the incident to apologise," he said. "The Georgian FA wrote a letter to UEFA saying that they were happy with what we did and UEFA have said they will take no further action. But they have taken the matter very seriously."
Before the Georgia game, manager Brian Kerr used his programme notes to criticise the booing of players while there was a notice below the team sheets in the programme. After the game, Rooney went on television to speak out against the booing as well as apologising to Arveladze.
Rooney also revealed that UEFA have the power to fine the FAI or even force Ireland to play behind closed doors should the problem persist.
For next week's Australia game, several messages have been placed in the programme while stewards have also been trained to deal with racist booing. "If people boo they will be asked to stop and if it continues, appropriate action will be taken," Rooney said, before adding: "If it continues, we would like to stop these people going to games."
Rooney also added that the Association is still committed to turning Lansdowne Road into an intimidating venue for visiting teams to play in, but that racist and sectartian abuse is not welcome.
A statement released by the FAI read:
Fran Rooney, FAI CEO, has called for supporter power to come into play to eradicate racist-based treatement of players at football matches. "With the fantastic support given by the vast majority of our fans, I would call on everyone who attends out games to exercise their influence on the small minority of so called fans who engage in racist based booing," he said.
The call comes in the wake of UEFA's decision to investigate the booing of Shota Arveladze by a minority of the spectators at Lansdowne Road during the recent game against Georgia. As part of the investigation UEFA asked the FAI to respond to the complaint.
In its response, the FAI told UEFA that the Association unequivocally condemns all forms of racist behaviour and that these sentiments had been expressed in the match programme, that the CEO condemned the behaviour of the section of the fans in the media and the Manager's programme comments also condemned such behaviour.
The response also pointed out that Mr Rooney personally made contact with Mr Arveladze on the day following the game, to apologise for the behaviour of the minority of fans who had engaged in the booing.
The FAI subsequently received correspondence from the Georgian FA expressing their deep appreciation of the FAI's handling of their visit.
The UEFA delegate at Lansdowne Road was also satisfied overall with what was an excellent atmosphere at the game.
In view of the above UEFA decided not to take disciplinary action against the FAI following an investigation by the Control and Disciplinary Body (of UEFA) into the booing.
Speaking today, Mr Rooney said: "The booing on a racist basis must stop before we find ourselves sanctioned by UEFA which can ultimately only have a negative impact on our own team. The tremendous reputation of the Irish supporters is in danger of being tarnished by the behaviour of some people at our recent games. We need to generate a wider awareness of this as an issue in football and clearly indicate that it is unacceptable, unwarranted and unhelpful," he added.
"We need to create a greater peer pressure and the fans need to understand the consequences of this type of behaviour in order to eradicate it completely," Mr Rooney said.
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