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Police, FA look into anti-Semitic chants

Nov. 27, 2012 - 18:28 By Korea Herald
LONDON (AP) ― English soccer faced another racism investigation after a Premier League match between Tottenham and West Ham was marred by anti-Semitic abuse by fans.

West Ham pledged to impose lifetime bans after some of its supporters were heard Sunday making chants about Adolf Hitler and also praising Italian club Lazio after an apparent anti-Semitic stabbing of a Tottenham fan on Wednesday in Rome ahead of a Europa League match.

“I was very disappointed to hear some of the songs yesterday and it was embarrassing,” Israel midfielder Yossi Benayoun, who is on loan at West Ham from Chelsea, wrote on Twitter.

The Metropolitan Police is looking into the chants heard during Sunday’s globally broadcast match at White Hart Lane after receiving a complaint from a crowd member.

Medvedev talks tough on hooligans

MOSCOW (AP) ― In a desperate attempt to curb soccer violence in Russia, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is calling for the most notorious hooligans to be banned from matches for life.

A Russian league game between Dynamo Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg was called off last week when the Dynamo goalkeeper was injured after a firecracker was thrown from the Zenit stands.

Dynamo was given a 3-0 win.

In the wake of disturbances at the Dynamo-Zenit game, the Russian government has drafted a bill to introduce harsh penalties for misbehaving fans, such as temporary suspensions. On Monday, Medvedev urged the government to go further and introduce lifetime bans.

Medvedev said punishment ought to be “extremely harsh against those who come to the stadium to misbehave rather than watch the match.”