By Chris Wright
The Serbian FA have claimed that they saw no ships in Krusevac. There was, in their own words, ‘no racism’ during England U21s game against their Serbian counterparts. Remember, the match that was played amid a relentless chorus of monkey chanting last night?
The Serbian FA have released a statement (it’s here in full) in which they claim their are ‘absolutely no grounds’ to make a connection between the skirmish that erupted at full-time and racism, even going a far as blaming Danny Rose for sparking the trouble with his “inappropriate, unsportsmanlike and vulgar” behaviour after the match:
“[The Serbian FA] absolutely refuses and denies that there were any occurrences of racism before and during the match at the stadium in Krusevac.
“Making connection between the seen incident – a fight between members of the two teams – and racism has absolutely no ground and we consider it to be a total malevolence.
“Unfortunately, after the fourth minute of the additional time and the victory goal scored by the guest team, unpleasant scenes were seen on the pitch.
“And while most of the English team players celebrated the score, their player number three, Danny Rose, behaved in inappropriate, unsportsmanlike and vulgar manner towards the supporters on the stands at the stadium in Krusevac, and for that he was shown a red card.”
Wow, just… wow.