Russia vs. Poland 400-year aftertaste: Controversy over ‘extremist’ banner

Published time: June 13, 2012 14:04
Edited time: June 13, 2012 18:04
Russia fans hold up a giant banner before the Group A Euro 2012 soccer match against Poland at the National stadium in Warsaw June 12, 2012 (Reuters/Pascal Lauener)

Battling on and off the pitch is not all Tuesday’s Euro 2012 match between Poland and Russia will be remembered for. A colossal banner unfurled by the Russian fans on the stands turned into a hot topic for discussion after the game.

The huge piece of fabric read “This is Russia”, and apparently depicted Dmitry Pozharsky, the country’s hero, who led Russia against the Polish-Lithuanian invasion in the early 1600s, a period known as the Time of Troubles.

The prince later obtained the unprecedented title Savior of the Motherland from Tsar Michael I, the first of the ruling Romanov dynasty.

Before the match, racism monitoring group Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) alerted UEFA about the banner, finding it far-right extremist and offensive to Poles. However, it was allowed to remain for the duration of the match.

European football’s governing body have since confirmed that they are to launch an investigation into the case, though they have much else to consider beforehand. They will first deal with the monkey chants aimed at Dutch players, Italian forward Mario Balotelli and Czech right-back Theo Gebre Selassie, and the 183 arrests made before and after Tuesday’s game in Warsaw.

If they find the banner offensive in any way the Russian Football Union may face serious fines.

Comments (40)

Johann Schumacher (unregistered) 16.06.2012 07:44

It would be awesome if during the match between Russia and Greece, Russian should have this banner and Greece should have this is sparta =)

+10

Undo

Johann Schumacher (unregistered) 16.06.2012 07:35

I mean why do Poland whining about this =) ? I mean are they really that Stupid =) ? it was Poland who attacked Moscow, and then got their buttom kicked during 1612 by Dmitry Pozharsky! So it was Poland who was the invaders! And those who are thinking of the invasion by Soviet, people should know that Pure Russia and Soviet is totally different things, which should be keept apart!

Psst: there is a good Russian movie called 1612 really cool, I really recommend it to everyone =)

And about democarcy, how come this "banner" is called for extremist, but how come that this is not allowed while Polish so called Neo-Nazis are allowed ? aren't that Ironic =) ?

+1

Undo

Kowalski (unregistered) 15.06.2012 23:34

I doubt that polish mainly brainless hools know who Pozharsky was :D I personally would be offended if they would put Suvorov, or similar polish civillians mass-killerMain reasons of attacks on russian supporters are not banner or their nationality but 1 fame of russian hools and verification this subject by polish hools2 some people love to fight, chase and beat others, especialy "strangers" (but in fact they dont need any reason to do this)3 beatings in Wroclaw: russian hools vs polish stewards, in case you dont know- stewards are regular fans of Slask Wroclaw, notable p olish league team so you can imagine Wroclaw's fans and their allies in polish league reaction...4 crucia l mistakes of police, not sure here but I think they pushed back polish hools on your back but then"forgot" to secure end of russian march I'm sure that if Czechs, Argentinians or lets say Bungabungians would beat these stewards and polish authorities would let them march anyway, result would be the same  Proud Serbian Czar (unregistered) wrote in #20... But then came bloody Pope and Pols become a nation... and they started to hate what they were...  What are you talking about? We were threathed by german empire and fighting pagans. Joining west-catholicks (throught czechs hierarchy instead german) was tactical move of polish rulers, like many others in early middle-age. Pope didn't force us to anything. Btw great schism happend century later.

+3

Undo

View all comments (40)
Add comment

By posting your comment, you agree to abide by our Posting rules

Log in to comment in full, or comment anonymously under character-limit restriction.

100 Text

– required fields

Register or

Name

Password

Show password

Register

or Register

Request a new password

Send

or Register

To complete a registration check
your Email:

or Register

A password has been sent to your email address

Edit profile

Name

New password

Retype new password

Current password

Save

Cancel

Follow us