The 17th round of the Russian football championship was overshadowed by an unpleasant and controversial episode, in which Artyom Dzyuba again became involved. The Zenit striker suffered massive insults from the audience just a few days after the same incident that occurred in the match of the national team with San Marino in the selection for Euro 2020.
Only this time, directly at the stadium, a football player could not hear obscene chants addressed to him. They took place in the match between Ural and Spartak in Yekaterinburg. Fans of the Moscow team, for which Dziuba played in the past and left with scandal, insulted the forward almost by the entire guest platform, twisting the famous Zenit fans' chanting, beginning with the words “Oh, come on, come on!”.
For football, mass insults are becoming commonplace, and they are subjected to a variety of players and coaches who, for one reason or another, have caused discontent among active fan groups. Often such episodes remain without the scrutiny of the public and the organizers - in this case, the Russian Premier League.
The Control and Disciplinary Committee of the Russian Football Union periodically fines clubs for offensive cries of fans in an amount not exceeding 100 thousand rubles, and the proceedings end there. Cases where the KDK applied more severe sanctions and covered sectors of the stadium for one match, as the RFU rules allow, are extremely rare.
But this time, the RPL issued an official statement about the incident in Yekaterinburg. The Premier League said they did not accept such manifestations of disrespect for the player, and announced the beginning of the audit and the collection of relevant materials in order to transfer them to the KDK RFU.
Later, Alexander Medvedev, Director General of Zenit, expressed his position on the incident. He called for a ban on the entrance to the stadium for fans who allow offensive shouting at football players.
“These people have no right to be in our stadiums. I would like the leaders of active pain and ordinary fans, who are very numerous in Russia, to evaluate the behavior of a group of people who decide not only who to play and who to coach, but who aggressively attack players from other teams and the captain of the Russian national team. Artyom is extremely unpleasant to hear such a thing, but he understands where it comes from, ”RIA Novosti quoted Medvedev as saying.
According to the former president of the RFU, Vyacheslav Koloskov, Dziuba deserved to take control of the incident and achieve a correction of the situation to the RPL. He noted that as an effective measure could be the application of administrative law in relation to fans chanting insults.
“Dziuba is the captain of the national team, the top scorer of our championship, a player who cementes the national team around him. How not to stand up for him? Even if the insult goes to any football player and coach, this is already a blatant violation of sports ethics. If this is heard from the stands, and even with obscenities, then this is hooliganism. From my point of view, such fans need to write a wolf ticket, although in our conditions it is not very effective. These insults fall under the administrative code. If it is possible to calculate these people, then I would contact the law enforcement agencies so that they consider the application of the norm and appoint correctional labor or fifteen days of arrest. It’s necessary to act harshly because it’s boorish behavior in the stands, ”RT Koloskov said.
In Spartak, whose fans were seen inappropriate behavior, did not comment on the insults to their former player.
At the same time, in the next match of the 18th round of the Russian championship, the Moscow team is just meeting with Zenit in St. Petersburg, and therefore the topic of Dzyuba's insults will become especially relevant for this game. The noise that has recently risen may well lead to the fact that the KDK RFU will consider the option of disqualifying the Spartak guest sector for one match. However, Koloskov expressed the hope that this would not happen, so that other red-white fans would not suffer.
“It seems to me that closing the sector would be unreasonable. Until now, these so-called grief fans have not been calculated, and casting a shadow over the entire club is wrong. It will be a landmark, top-ranked match, so to deprive Spartak fans of the opportunity to come to St. Petersburg seems to me inappropriate. But control must be made tougher to identify those people who are atrocious in the stands, ”said the former president of the RFU.