Euro 2012: Host Cities Must Do More to Ensure Rampant Racism Doesn't Ruin Event

Poland and Ukraine have a problem, and need to do something about it in a hurry.

With the European Championships quickly approaching, fans have been given a reminder—and maybe even a warning—about the severe racism that exists in the two host countries around their soccer matches.

A documentary titled "Euro 2012: Stadiums of Hate”, from BBC’s Panorama, was aired in the United Kingdom on Monday night.

It is going to be aired in a variety of other countries in the next few days, according to Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports.

It has sparked a worldwide debate from prospective fans thinking about shelling out thousands in order to attend the event.

Judging from some of the details Rogers has reported, it sounds like a very eye-opening expose:

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"Reports of violent behavior at games in those nations were already frequent, but the ugly scenes displayed by Panorama—including crowds making monkey chants at black players and targeting minority athletes with foul language and physical threats—have brought the issue to the forefront of pre-tournament discussions at European soccer's governing body UEFA."

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This is only one example.

Euro Cup is arguably the second biggest event in the sport, aside from the World Cup, and there is going to be thousands of fans from all different racial backgrounds in attendance.

This is a big concern for squads like the England national team, who has eight African-American players on its 23-man team. Many of them are high-profile stars who are potential targets.

According to Rogers, numerous families of the players have already decided against making the trip.

What can be done to curb this?

Zero tolerance.

Having a citizen’s arrest program where unruly fans can be called out by other patrons and thrown out of the facilities by an employee around the scene.

Beef up security with more cameras and employ more officials walking around surveying the crowd.

Create an environment of strong communication to ensure incidents can be solved without the threat of violence in a quick and efficient manner.

I’m not here to say Poland and the Ukraine are filled with racists. The overwhelming majority are not. Yet, it’s a select few who seemed to give everyone a bad rap.

That seems to be the case here.

While we won’t know for sure how hard the two host countries will attempt to make the Euro Cup a family-friendly event that doesn’t get engulfed by racial disharmony, this is a terrific opportunity for Ukraine and Poland to prove the documentary wrong.

But, if a tragic event does occur, the damage will be felt for years to come.

Racism is an issue that dates back for centuries, and it seems as if the sentiment of the world is slowly beginning to change.

The key word is “slowly."

This means the two host countries must be on high alert next month to ensure their perceived worldwide reputations aren't further enhanced.  

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