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Mar 25 '19
LONDON -- FIFA President Sepp Blatter has criticized Italian football authorities for the "unacceptable" decision to only fine Roma 50,000 euros ($64,865) after their fans racially abused AC Milan players. Wholesale Basketball Gear . Play was stopped for almost two minutes during the second half of Sundays match when visiting Roma supporters would not stop abusing Milan players Mario Balotelli and Kevin-Prince Boateng, who are black. Warnings issued over the stadium speaker system went unheeded, leading to a Serie A match being suspended due to racism for the first time. "Small fines for racist abuse (are) unacceptable," Blatter wrote Tuesday on Twitter. Blatters willingness to tackle racism in football was previously questioned, and he was forced to apologize in 2011 for saying incidents between players on the field should be settled by a handshake. But Blatter has put renewed vigour into the fight against racism since Boateng led his teammates off the field when he was racially abused during a friendly against an Italian fourth-tier team in January. "What is surprising and is not understandable for me, is that the disciplinary committee of the Italian Football Federation has taken a decision, not even 24 hours after the event, by just imposing a fine," Blatter said Tuesday on FIFAs website. "They have not made any investigation of what happened. And just to give a pecuniary sanction is not valid, that is not acceptable. You will always find money. "What is 50,000 euros for such an incident? Im not happy and I will call the Italian federation. Thats not a way to deal with such matters." The Boateng incident in January following a spate of racial-abuse cases in England prompted Blatter to establish a task force to propose stricter sanctions. In plans being presented to the FIFA Congress later this month, teams face being thrown out of competitions or even relegated if their players, officials or fans are found guilty of any form of discrimination. "In this resolution, there are foreseen sanctions -- and these sanctions must be applied all around the world," Blatter said. "Thats why we need the congress decision. That will bind together all the 209 associations." UEFA, at its congress in London next week, will ask its 53 members to adopt a series of tougher racism sanctions. UEFA wants a partial stadium closure to be imposed on clubs if there is racism in the stands -- rather than just a fine for a racist offence. If there are further incidents, UEFA is advocating clubs being forced to play matches behind closed doors. A 10-game minimum ban for players found guilty of abuse is also being proposed. The English Football Association is looking to push through its own plans for a five-game minimum ban for racist abuse at its annual general meeting this week. In England in recent years, Liverpool striker Luis Suarez received an eight-match ban for racially abusing an opponent and Chelsea captain John Terry was suspended for four matches. Authentic NBA Jerseys Wholesale . PETERSBURG, Fla. Cheap NBA Jerseys Free Shipping . The Croatian served 21 aces and hit 42 winners against Sijsling, who double-faulted to give Cilic a 4-3 lead in the deciding set. "All the players, they know me and they were really happy to see me and they were really happy that this is over for me," Cilic said. http://www.wholesalejerseysnba.com/ . After the whistle, Thornton skated the length of the ice, pulled Orpik to the ice from behind and punched him in the face several times. Whoever dreamed like a Western Bulldogs supporter? Almost certainly, no-one has dreamed like their president Peter Gordon.Through all the years of struggle as he likes to call them, sandbagging the club from folding in the early 1990s and more recently fighting to build a football machine capable of contending in September, Gordon has hung onto his dream of a grand final.The last time the Bulldogs got there was 1961. Gordons first memories of the club are as a seven-year-old in 1965, when they finished 10th of 12 clubs with just four wins. The following year they finished in identical position, and the year after that, last. Yet Gordon had grown to love them, as he said at the Norm Smith Oration in 2015: Somehow the Bulldogs in that critical formative period got me for life. Somewhere my psychotherapist is laughing until he wets his pants!That night 15 months ago, Gordon recalled a dinner with Robert Murphy and their wives, in which he let his imagination take full flight. After a few glasses of wine, which Ill admit were all consumed by me, Rob and I were moved to confess to the table we had both fantasised about what a 21st century Bulldogs premiership might look like, Gordon said. Neither of us have any experience of what a Bulldogs Grand Final might look like because while Im nearly twice his age, neither of us have ever seen our club in a Grand Final.For my part I was able to provide the entire table with a kick-by-kick description of what our Grand Final would look like. Itll be against Hawthorn. We will come from 22 points down at three-quarter-time. We will get to the front at the 20-minute mark and we will storm away to win by 28 points. I can actually provide you with multiple choice options for who puts us in front.But it always ends in the same way. With Murph having marked on his chest, 45 metres out from goal when the siren goes. His teammates, Matty Boyd and Roughy, they just want him to throw away the ball and celebrate. But he insists on taking the kick, even though the game is won. His teammates want him to just drop it, but Bob, no doubt driven by pure narcissism, insists on kicking the last goal of the premiership so he can say he had that honour. He puts it through.Somewhere in the background, Bruce McAvaney or Tim Lane or someone can be heard saying everyone in the whole worlds a Bulldog today! Thats my fantasy.The passion inherent in Gordons dream was what drove him to get involved formally with the club in 1989 when they were, in his words, a matter of days from extinction. The then VFL was about to become the AFL, and with ideas of national expansion there was little interest in safeguarding the future of a struggling club west of docklands. Melbourne and Victoria were at the time falling into the grips of recession, and blue-blooded administrators to the north and the east felt Footscray an obvious target for downsizing.Well it was in receivership and it was days away from being wound up, Gordon recalled. The then VFL had plans to raffle off the players to various other clubs and it was Im sure closer to extinction than any other club has ever been that has survived. Its not the only time its been close, in 1996 we had our struggles, and I know in the 16 years of David Smorgons presidency before I came back there were various moments there where the sheriff was nearly at the door.Its been a history of struggle, but the moral to the story is that if you continue to struggle and continue to believe eventually a week like this will come along.As a young and energetic lawyer, Gordons passion for the Bulldogs was writ large across seven years as club president, from 1989 to 1996. That final year was another grim one, immortalised by the documentary Year Of The Dogs. Cheap NBA Jerseys. Exhausted and burnt out, Gordon departed the club and spent some years apart from it, concentrating on his expanding legal practice.It was his successor Smorgon who prevailed upon Gordon in 2012 to return, making a lengthy sales pitch in his city office. By now the AFLs attitude had shifted from one of Darwinism to that of equalisation, with better awareness of how Melbournes evolution and growth had made 10 Victorian clubs a far more sustainable concept.Older and a little less fiery than he had had been, Gordon recently found himself launching the autobiography of the former AFL chief executive Ross Oakley, the man he had once sparred with on a daily basis during the 1989 crisis. It was a moment symbolic of the changed relationship between club and league.Ive made the point on several occasions that with a really strong Western Bulldogs football club representing the western region of Melbourne in Victoria, the biggest beneficiary of that is the AFL, Gordon said. Im really pleased with the partnership weve got with Gill [McLachlan, CEO] and the AFL, they recognise that every bit as we do.It is the sort of message we tried to send the AFL back in the 1990s when they had a different philosophy and different priorities. The single biggest difference I think is that we see the AFL now as a really constructive and co-operative partner, rather than someone to be looking over our shoulder worrying about what theyre going to do to us next.Gordon is a demanding figure, having overseen the enormous turnover in terms of staff and players since his return. The appointment of Gary Kent earlier this year made him the third chief executive in the space of 12 months. But at the same time Gordon is also very close to those with whom he shares a similar vision - he has not been shy in singing the praises of the coach Luke Beveridge and the captain Murphy, almost since the day the former joined ahead of last season.Its a story of if you keep pushing hard enough the wall breaks down, Gordon said. Im very proud of everyone at the club. I couldnt be prouder of Bevo, and Bob Murphy the two men I credit more than anyone else with the turnaround in the club the last two years. I wasnt always sure wed ever get to this point, but we are at this point, and I couldnt be happier.Equally, Gordon has overseen an upsurge in support to the point that the club now boasts 40,000 members, 10 times as many as in 1989. Were really grateful to all of our new corporate partners and to the number of people who wanted to get a womens membership for next year and who are coming along and joining in the fun and jumping on the bandwagon. Theres plenty of room, and if we run out of room well just build more bandwagon.Injury, of course, means that Gordons captain and dinner partner Murphy will not be running out on Saturday afternoon. But that does not mean that the dream he shared with Gordon will not take place. Prophetically, Gordon related Murphy speaking less of the game itself than the possible aftermath.Singing the song, holding up the cup, and then of the team, the club staff, the members and all of our supporters walking the cup through he city together, down Footscray Road, to the Footscray town hall where it last was in 1954, and finally to the Whitten Oval, as the sun sets.After saying those words at the Norm Smith Oration, Gordon sighed deeply. Not even his dreams depicted such a sight in prospect for 2016. ' ' '
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