The European Football Association (UEFA) responded to the petition of the Mikó Imre Legal Protection Service, in which they urged action due to the hate speech that was uttered at the Farul-Sepsi OSK match in Constanța on August 9. UEFA's response was published by Erika Benkő, head of the legal protection service, on Facebook.
The short summary of UEFA's response letter is that
anti-Hungarians in Romania in the A league matches are not their competence, that is, they are not interested in the least.
It is disappointing how the mantra against racism is flawlessly recited in this response letter, but they do not deal with it in any meaningful way.
This is a bad message from UEFA, and I am deeply disappointed, because I thought they would deal with all kinds of hate speech with the same severity
- writes the head of the legal protection service in his post.
In the couple of letters in English, they say that they have taken note of the announcement, that the association takes seriously all accusations of racism, discrimination and intolerance, as these have no place in modern society and football.
At the same time, it is announced that
A league matches are under national jurisdiction, meaning UEFA's disciplinary bodies do not have the authority to act in this matter.
The legal protection service informed the European Football Association that what happened at the Farul-Sepsi OSK match in Constanta is considered serious even compared to the previous ones, even though anti-Hungarian sentiment is slowly becoming a general phenomenon in the stands in Romania. It was also reported that the match was not stopped, the authorities did not deal with the shouting, and even
they did not perform even when the fans spat on the players and threw bottles at them.
In the letter, the head of the legal protection service, Erika Benkő, also asked UEFA to monitor the Romanian league in order to prevent similar incidents and, if something similar happens, to impose exemplary sanctions on the clubs with the rigor typical of them.
Opening image: illustration by Attila Pinti