Romania’s anti-discrimination council (CNCD) has fined the country’s football association (FRF) RON 5,000 for anti-Hungarian slogans shouted during the national team’s U21 qualifier against Northern Ireland on October 19, 2019, Székelyhon reports. The council was notified by the Mikó Imre Association for the Protection of Minority Rights.
In its filing, the association highlighted that the national team’s supporters shouted for several minutes, “Out with Hungarians from the country.” Unfortunately, this isn’t the first occasion on which the national team’s supporters have chanted xenophobic slogans despite the match having no connection with Hungarians, such as being played against a Hungarian team or the referee being Hungarian or the like, the president of the association Erika Benkő told Székelyhon.
While the anti-discrimination council is doing its job by applying fines for such shameful behavior, it is sad to see that the country’s football association is questioning the Mikó Imre Association’s procedure in the matter instead of fighting against racism and xenophobia, Benkő said.
As we previously reported, the anti-discrimination council has recently elected seven members out of 26 candidates, one of whom is the infamous blogger Dan Tanasă. While the latter person failed to land a job on the council, the openly anti-Hungarian figure Horia Grama (who stood for anti-Hungarian measures as a former prefect of Kovászna/Covasna County between 2001 and 2005) has managed to snag a seat.
Title image: Xenophobic banners. The image is an illustration. Image source: MikoImre.ro
