UEFA and Spanish authorities called to act over PSV fans' "racist humiliation" of women beggars in Madrid

 16th March 2016

Charities and campaign groups have today put pressure on Madrid's authorities and UEFA to act after PSV Eindhoven fans humiliated women beggars in Madrid's Plaza Mayor on Tuesday.

The Dutch supporters, who were in the Spanish capital ahead of last night's Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid , threw coins at begging women while others burned bank notes in front of them.

Having thrown coins on the floor, the drunken fans cheered heartlessly as the women - mainly understood to be refugees - chased the money that could help feed their families, as well as reports of racial abuse.

The pressure group Movimiento contra la Intolerancia (Movement against Intolerance) have called the actions a "hate crime" and asked for the local authorities to pursue the Dutch supporters for what they call "a racist humiliation" of the victims.

"The authorities have to investigate this using recordings and witness statements," a spokesman said.

"With collaboration from the Dutch embassy we need to identify those who perpetrated these actions."

They also called on UEFA to act, with the European governing body's disciplinary code allowing sanctions when "the human dignity of a group or person is insulted in any way, including skin colour, race, religion or ethnic origin."

It is not the first time Dutch fans have left an unhappy trail across Europe, with Feyenoord fans last year rioting in Rome.

A spokesman for PSV supporters, Harrie Timmermans, callously pointed out that "at least the beggars are better off, financially".

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/uefa-spanish-authorities-called-act-7566452

Authorities and UEFA asked to take measures against PSV fans for beggar humiliation in Madrid

The group Movement against Intolerance have asked the appropriate Spanish authorities and UEFA to take action, quoting the disciplinary code which states that sanctions can be taken when "the human dignity of a person or group of people are insulted."

On Wednesday, the Movimiento contra la Intolerancia - Movement against Intolerance - put pressure on the authorities responsible for hate crimes to take measures against the "racist humiliation" that was seen yesterday against homeless people from Romania in Madrid's Plaza Mayor by PSV Eindhoven fans.

In a statement, the group condemned the "humiliating" and "degrading" acts committed prior to the Champions League match to a group of gypsy women of Romanian origin who were begging in the centre of Madrid. The fans of the Dutch team shouted racist insults towards these women, which, according could constitute a crime.

"The authorities should investigate this using recordings and the testimonials available," said a spokesman who went on to say that in conjunction with the Dutch embassy they must identify those responsible for the crimes and punish them.

In addition, requests were made to UEFA with their disciplinary code being cited. This allows for sanctions to be set when "the human dignity of a group or person is insulted for any reason, including skin colour, race, religion or ethnic origin. "Responsibility is also required, he added, to the football club PSV Eindhoven itself.

http://en.as.com/en/2016/03/16/football/1458133634_667457.html

Vocabulary:

pursue: follow in order to capture.

Chase: follow rapidly, pursue

callous: insensitive, uncaring, unsympathetic  /callously: brutally, cruelly, heartlessly

be better off:  be in better circumstances, more fortunate happier.

To beg: ask for money or charity

To require: order sb to do sth, demand, especially with authority

video and article (El País in English)

Rafael Nadal denies new doping allegations by ex-France sports secretary

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Facing new accusations, Rafael Nadal again denied he has ever used performance enhancers to speed his recovery from injury.

"You know what?  "I am a completely clean guy. I have never had the temptation of doing something wrong. When I get injury, I get injury. I never take anything to be back quicker."

On Tuesday, Roselyne Bachelot , the former French secretary of sport, accused Nadal of doping in 2012, echoing accusations made by former French Open champion Yannick Noah in 2011 and by former Belgian pro Christophe Rochus in 2013.

"We know that Nadal's famous seven-month injury was without a doubt due to a positive drug test," Bachelot told French TV show "Le Grand 8" on Tuesday morning. "When you see a tennis player who stops playing for long months, it is because he has tested positive and because they are covering it up. It is not something that always happens, but yes it happens more than you think."

Nadal has never failed a drug test. He has used new therapies for his knee problems, including stem-cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma therapy. "It is an example for the kids, and if I am doing something that goes against that, I will be lying to myself, not lying to my opponents," Nadal said Wednesday. "I believe in the sport and the values of the sport."

Nadal's uncle and coach, Toni Nadal, told RAC 1 radio show, "Rafael's lawyer is already working to potentially take legal action against [Bachelot]. In this world, instead of proving one's guilt, a person must prove their innocence. "I am no longer surprised by what people say, but comments like these from a former sports leader are incredible to me."

In 2011, Noah wrote a column in Le Monde newspaper saying that French athletes no longer had a chance against their Spanish opponents because they "don't have the magic potion." French television also featured several satirical moments, and in 2013, Rochus questioned how Nadal could dominate the 2012 French Open and then be injured two weeks later at Wimbledon.

"I have been open all my career," Nadal told reporters at Indian Wells. "I never tried to hide anything that I did. I did PRP, and then I did stem cells. "The first time with PRP, it worked fantastic, and the second time it was bad. I had to stop playing tennis for seven months. With stem cells, I used it two times on my knees and it worked very well. I am not doing, never did and never going to do something wrong."

The 29-year-old added that he has faith in his doctor, Angel Ruiz-Cotorro.

"He has been the doctor for all the Spanish players for a number of years," Nadal said. "I would never take anything that he doesn't know about."

Spanish sports minister Miguel Cardenal blasted Bachelot, who held her position from 2007 to 2010 under the administration of Nicolas Sarkozy, telling Spanish news agency EFE that her comments were "surprisingly frivolous."

"[Bachelot] has not held this position [minister of sport] for many years, and I am sure she has forgotten everything that she has ever known," Cardenal said. "I am convinced that she will realize the huge mistake she has made and the unacceptable injustice and she will apologize. About the rest, it is best not to pay too much attention. The lie is so ridiculous that it is easy to rule out without much effort."

This is not the first time that sources in France have hinted at Spanish sport stars' involvement in doping offences. Yannick Noah spoke of a 'magic potion' that Spanish athletes took to guarantee success in their respective sports. Then, it was Canal + France's 'Spitting Image' puppets who parodied Iker Casillas, Pau Gasol and Rafa Nadal signing autographs with a hypodermic needle.

http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/14942201/rafael-nadal-denies-doping-new-allegations-arise-former-french-sports-secretary

Depor fan killed in clashes before Atletico game

Deportivo Coruña's supporters react during their Spanish first division soccer match against Atletico Madrid at Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid, November 30, 2014. REUTERS/Susana Vera

 (Reuters) - A Deportivo La Coruna supporter has died after he was injured when dozens of rival fans from radical groups clashed near the stadium before the club's La Liga match at Atletico Madrid on Sunday.
The 43-year-old Depor fan, who was identified by Deportivo only as "Jimmy", had to be pulled out of the freezing Manzanares river near Atletico's Calderon stadium and suffered cardiac arrest, hypothermia and head injuries, emergency services said. A hospital spokeswoman later said he had died shortly after 2 pm local time (1300 GMT) after failing to respond to efforts to revive him.
Eleven other people were treated for injuries, including one female police officer with a fractured hand. 
Twenty-four people were taken into custody, all members of radical fan groups from Deportivo and Atletico, as well as Madrid-based clubs Rayo Vallecano and Alcorcon, and a total of 100 troublemakers had been identified, police said on their Twitter feed (@policia).
They named the radical groups, who are known to organise fights among themselves before matches, as Riazor Blues (Deportivo), Frente Atletico, Bukaneros (Rayo) and Alkor Hooligans (Alcorcon).
Atletico and Spain's professional soccer league (LFP) condemned the violence and the LFP said it had wanted to suspend the game, which champions Atletico won 2-0.
Spanish media reported they had been unable to do so as it had not been possible to contact the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) in time.
"I want to say that this has nothing to do with football," Atletico president Enrique Cerezo said in an interview with Spanish television recorded before the fan's death was announced. "These are radical groups who meet up and these are the consequences," Cerezo added. "I repeat that neither Atletico nor Deportivo have anything to do with these incidents, they are organised by radical groups who have their histories and their accounts to settle."
Depor president Tino Fernandez said clubs needed to do more to make sure such incidents were not allowed to happen.
"It's tragic news," he told Spanish TV. "I want to express our vehement opposition to violence."
http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/11/30/soccer-spain-violence-idINKCN0JE0GZ20141130

Depor fan dead after clash between ‘ultras’ ahead of Atlético match

 Madrid 1 DIC 2014 - 08:54 CET 

A violent confrontation between hardcore groups of Spanish soccer fans – known as ultras – left a 43-year-old man dead and many more injured in Madrid on Sunday morning.

Two large groups of Deportivo de La Coruña (Galicia) and Atlético de Madrid fans clashed at 8.49am on the banks of the capital’s Manzanares River. On one side were a hundred or so members of Riazor Blues, the radical section of Deportivo de La Coruña’s fan base. On the other, more than 150 members of Frente Atlético, from the ultra section of Atlético de Madrid, whose stadium is near to where the incident happened.

Most of the members of the two gangs were carrying bats, metal bars and knuckle dusters. Anyone who wasn’t armed grabbed metal chairs from a nearby terrace. Once within 20 meters of each other, the groups began to throw fireworks and firecrackers. After a minute of loud bangs, fighting broke out: punches, kicks and stabbings. The Galician ultras, who were outnumbered, fled the scene, but some were left behind.

At 8.52am, according to a recording made by a bystander, a dozen or so Atlético ultras threw one of the Galicians into the river. He managed to get out of the water after having fallen five meters into the Manzanares. Other members of the gang did the same a minute later with Francisco Javier Romero Taboada, a Galician ultra who managed to hang on to the handrail after being thrown over the side. Blows and beatings rained down on him until he fell into the water.

Taboada called for help for half-an-hour from the river as he tried to keep himself afloat and scale the sheer wall lining the bank, according to a taxi driver who witnessed the scene. A number of passers-by harangued one of the few municipal police officers on the scene for not jumping in after him as, all the while, the confrontations between the two groups of ultras continued on the river bank. According to the same source, the officer explained that he was awaiting backup.

Fifteen minutes later, municipal squad cars arrived, as well as officers from the National Police, who began making arrests. Later on, firefighters used a ladder to rescue the man from the water.

When an ambulance finally arrived, the man was in cardiac arrest and was showing signs of hypothermia. He was, according to an official source, “clinically dead.” Romero Taboada, or ‘Jimmy’ as he was known, was a familiar face to the police in La Coruña. He was 43, and had a wife and two children.

The incident left 10 injured, 21 arrests, 30 people identified by the authorities and a lot of stitches. Among those detained were two members of the Bukaneros, the radical section of Madrid team Rayo Vallecano, and who, like the Riazor Blues, are also of the extreme left. Frente Atlético, in contrast, follows a neo-Nazi ideology.

The police want to check phone records of those arrested to find out if the fight was premeditated.

The scene was left covered in blood stains, an officer present at the scene told EL PAÍS. Among the last to be arrested was a La Coruña radical with a stab wound in his back. The police interviews continued on Sunday night. The police have requested a judicial order to check the telephone records of the arrested men to find out whether the fight had been premeditated.

The central government’s delegate in Madrid, Cristina Cifuentes, stated on Sunday that the tragedy could have been avoided if the National Anti-violence Commission – which is part of the Interior and Culture ministries – had classed the game as high risk, given that 10 times more officers would have been deployed around the stadium (around 150) and a police escort would have accompanied the ultras on their journey into Madrid. The commission claims it did not know that the 200 radicals would be travelling to the Calderón stadium.

Despite the incident, the game went ahead. The final decision as to whether or not to suspend the match lay with the Spanish Football Federation.

http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/12/01/inenglish/1417420479_723026.html 

A football Fan Dies In Madrid 'Ultras' Football Violence

Hooligans do battle on the Spanish capital's streets, with one man dying in hospital after being dragged from a freezing river.

A football fan has died from a heart attack after firefighters pulled him out of a river suffering from hypothermia and head injuries.

The Deportivo La Coruna supporter, identified only as "Jimmy" by the club, was discovered amid clashes before the Spanish side's match at Atletico Madrid. Dozens of rival fans from hardcore 'ultras' groups fought near Atletico's stadium, throwing firecrackers, chairs and sticks.

A hospital spokeswoman said the 43-year-old had died just after 2pm local time after efforts to resuscitate him failed. Eleven other people were treated for injuries, including a female police officer with a fractured hand. Police said 24 people were in custody and that they were all from radical fan groups from the two clubs, as well as from Madrid-based clubs Rayo Vallecano and Alcorcon. A total of 100 troublemakers have been identified, according to a police tweet. 

They named the radical groups, who often organise fights among themselves, as Riazor Blues (Deportivo), Frente Atletico, Bukaneros and Alkor Hooligans. 

Spain's professional football league, the LFP, said they wanted to call off the match but were unable to contact football bosses in time. 

The country's sport minister, Jose Ignacio Wert, has lined up an urgent meeting with the sport's anti-violence commission on Monday. Both club presidents spoke to the media to condemn the violence. Atletico president Enrique Cerezo said the clashes had "nothing to do with football". "I repeat that neither Atletico nor Deportivo have anything to do with these incidents, they are organised by radical groups who have their histories and their accounts to settle," said Mr Cerezo. Deportivo president Tino Fernandez said the club would support the family of the dead man. "We want to express that we strongly reject violence. At the moment we don't know the details and it is tragic news," said Mr Fernandez. "The clubs need to act so that these things don't happen anymore. "Our position is well-known and we have to lament what has happened. We are at the disposition of the family."

http://news.sky.com/story/1383215/fan-dies-in-madrid-ultras-football-violence

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PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS (FOR AND AGAINST)

Against drugs

For drugs

• Athletes who use drugs are breaking the rules and getting an unfair advantage over others. •  these athletes are endangering not only their own health, but also indirectly encouraging youngsters to do the same. • Stronger anti-doping initiatives are considered necessary since they damage the image of sports •  More unannounced, out-of-competition tests should be conducted to reduce the chance that competitors will rid their systems of drugs before being tested. •     new tests should be developed to keep pace with the changing array of drugs that athletes are taking. •     We should protect athletes from harmful drugs and  preserve the spirit of fair play and unaided competition between human beings in their peak of natural fitness. •     Athletes who test positive for drugs /After testing positive for drugs athletes can be stripped of their medals and records / can have their medals taken away  and be suspended from/ banned from all competition for two years on the first offense. / for life •     the use of anabolic steroids is illegal without a prescription, and possession can bring heavy fines and prison terms for users and dealers. •     doped athletes exercise an unfair advantage over their opponents and violating the ideals of sportsmanship •     Anti doping controls are good to deter athletes from using illicit substances with unknown health effects. •     If performance enhancing drugs were permitted in all sports competitions athletes would have to become virtual guinea pigs in order to remain competitive. •     steroids enlarges their prostates to the point where urination is difficult •     Some coaches dope athletes with steroid injections without their consent/ knowledge •     large doses of these drugs can lead to the breakdown of the athletes’ immune system and the end of their careers •     some athletes have been given regular injections of testosterone, a male hormone, without their knowledge and these treatments can  masculinize their physique and voice permanently •     The idea of sport is to compete your natural ability, and drugs are very bad for athletes. The use of performance-enhancing drugs leads to serious health problems, including “steroid rage”, the development of male characteristics in female athletes, heart attacks, and greatly reduced life expectancy. Some drugs are also addictive. •     why should we sacrifice the health of athletes for the sake of public enjoyment? •     Teenage athletes train alongside adult ones and share the same coaches, so many would succumb to the temptation and pressure to use drugs if these were widely available and effectively endorsed by legalization •     Far from creating a level playing field, legalisation would tilt it in favour of those athletes from wealthy countries with advanced medical provision and pharmaceutical industries. Athletes from poorer nations would no longer be able to compete on talent alone. •     The act of encouraging drugs in the sporting business contradicts the values of sportsmanship •     performance enhancing drugs, not only are they illegal, but they are cheating. If they win, It may be from the effect the drug(s) had on the person. This is not fair for the other athletes and it shouldn't be allowed. •     The idea of competiting in sport is that you are using your natural ability. Performance-enhancing drugs are unfair and give athletes an advantage beyond their natural ability. This should not be allowed. •     Drugs are illegal. Athletes are role models. If they use drugs they are breaking the law and setting a bad example. Using illicit drugs are against the law and anyone who breaks this law should be punished severely. •     Many cheats, after being caught out once using drugs, get a second chance and get caught using drugs again. If someone has demonstrated that they're going to cheat with drugs, we might as well stop them before they cheat again. •     If athletes know when tests will be, or the tests are infrequent, athletes could easily get away with using drugs.

•     Freedom of choice. If athletes wish to take drugs in search of improved performances, let them do so. They harm nobody but themselves and should be treated as adults, capable of making rational decisions upon the basis of widely-available information. Even if there are adverse health effects in the long-term, this is also true of both tobacco and boxing, which remain legal. •     This could improve both athlete’s performance and their health, and would be a lot better than having everybody trying whatever additive they can sneak •     Since there is no clear way to distinguish from legitimate and illegitimate artificial aids to performance, they should all be allowed. •     those competitors who don’t take performance-enhancing drugs see themselves as disadvantaged. •     Some drugs can’t be tested for, and in any case, new medical and chemical advances mean that the cheats will always be ahead of the testers. Legalisation would remove this uncertainty and allow everyone to compete openly and fairly. •     it is hypocritical for society to encourage consumers to seek drugs to treat all sorts of ailments and conditions but to disdain drug use for sports. •     the risk to athletes has been overstated and the effort to keep them from using performance-enhancing drugs is bound to fail. •     These drugs enable athletes to transcend the limits of natural ability and reach new levels of competitiveness. •     there is nothing unfair or unnatural about using performance-enhancing drugs. •     drug use is one advantage among many, such as access to superior coaching or training facilities, that athletes may or may not have at their disposal to sharpen their competitive edge. •     all athletes are not starting with the same set of advantages.  Performance-enhancing drugs are simply making up for an athlete’s natural deficiencies or quality of training. •     elite sporting events are so demanding that competing in them virtually necessitates drug use. •     without drugs like EPO, which enhances athletic endurance by boosting the amount of oxygen in the blood, competing in the Tour de France would be nearly impossible. •     it’s impossible to make the top 100 on the ranking list without taking EPO, growth hormone or some of the other stuff.” •     The desire to remain competitive among athletes explains their willingness to use performance-enhancing drugs. •     Better spectacle for spectators. Sport has become a branch of the entertainment business and the public demands “higher, faster, stronger” from athletes. If drug-use allows world records to be continually broken, and makes American Football players bigger and more exciting to watch, why deny the public what they want, especially if the athletes want to give it to them? •     If legal, then drugs can be controlled and monitored by doctors, making them much safer. •     Legalisation allows more information to become available and open medical supervision will avoid many of the health problems currently associated with performance-enhancing drugs. •     Some athletes have come out and said they feel like targets from drug testers, particularly successful athletes. Getting tested up to twice a day is too much, unnecessary and can get to a point where it’s a violation of privacy.

SPORT: BLOOD DOPING, CYCLING, ELECTRIC BIKES (LISTENING + SCRIPTS)

  

• BLOOD DOPING (LISTENING AND DOWNLOADABLE SCRIPT)
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