The organized sporting world should take effective action against the increasing violence and racism at sports events, Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander said last week.
His remarks came at an international conference held here April 11 seeking to ban expressions of racism by fans at sports events.
An increasing number of fans exceed the boundaries of normal rivalries, particularly when national pride changes into blind nationalism, said Alexander, the gathering’s main speaker.
The conference, called “Sports, Tolerance and Fair Play,” drew some 240 attendees from the Council of Europe, whose 39 member states from Western, Central and Eastern Europe seek to promote democracy and human rights.
Also attending the meeting, which in particular addressed racist displays at European soccer matches, were representatives from the International Olympic Committee and the European Football Association.
The conference took place in the wake of several recent incidents at Dutch soccer matches at which anti-Semitic and other racist epithets were shouted by some fans.
As part of the plan of action adopted at the meeting, famed Dutch soccer player Ruud Gullitt was named a roving ambassador of fair play. He will travel in that capacity to various countries during the next four years to urge greater decency among fans.
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