The Czech Football Association (FACR) will invite the young Roma football players from the Mongagua organisation who faced racist insults from Ostrava football fans on a train last weekend to the next Czech international match, according to FACR chairman David Trunda.
Police are also investigating the incident, including why a train with several hundred fans was travelling without a police escort.
“We condemn it unambiguously, even the slightest manifestations of it. And when there are children, even more so,” said Trunda, speaking at a meeting on Monday initiated by the government’s human rights commissioner Klara Simackova Laurencikova. He said bigger football clubs such as Slavia and Sparta have mechanisms to combat racism in stadiums.
FC Banik Ostrava has also apologised for the situation, cited on the Mongagua website. “The club has tentatively agreed with the organisation on various forms of joint activities as part of its prevention programme, which should be finalised in concrete terms in the coming days,” FC Banik wrote on its website.
Commissioner Simackova Laurencikova said it is crucial that the young footballers receive advocacy from the FC Banik players themselves. “I think it would be great if Banik players could quickly show the children that they stand behind them,” she said.
Representatives of Mongagua said they do not consider the club’s statement sufficient. “I wanted them to flatly reject it. I don’t have a good feeling about the statement, they want to blame it on individuals,” said coach Jaroslav Horvath, who runs the Ostrava branch of Mongagua. He said the children were scared on the train, sitting with their hats and hoods on and not leaving the compartment. The fans, he said, had racially insulted the children and made inappropriate gestures.
Lukas Pulko, the founder of the Mongagua project, who has been praised by President Petr Pavel, will hold talks with FC Banik in the coming days. He would consider it appropriate if the footballers were photographed with a banner condemning racism. Describing the incident on Facebook, he said the only solution was for each of Mongagua’s 18 clubs to have a minibus that could be used to travel safely to tournaments.
“I don’t want to accept that we will be taking Roma children in minibuses because the normal means are not safe for them,” said Simackova Laurencikova. She said the issue of safety in public transport after sports matches in general also needs to be addressed.
“Tomorrow I will ask the police president for a follow-up meeting to discuss the protection and safety of ordinary citizens in connection with really big matches,” Simackova Laurencikova added.
Interior Minister Vit Rakusan (STAN) also posted on social media condemning the aggression directed against children.
“A thorough investigation is already being carried out by the extremism and terrorism department of the Prague directorate. They are gathering all the necessary information on the basis of which they will decide on further action,” said the police in a statement on social media.
According to police officer for minorities Dalibor Horsky, it is not standard for a train carrying fans to travel after a match without a police escort. He will therefore investigate why this was the case on the train from Teplice to Prague on Saturday evening.
