It seems the Beautiful Game is not "Beautiful" anymore.
Can you imagine a former soccer player, warning fans not to go to the stadium to watch their favorite teams compete in the upcoming EURO2012 Championship?
Barely 1 week is left before the championship commences, and the hosts Ukraine-Poland are staring at nothing less than a full-blown PR disaster....
In an interview with the BBC current affairs programme Panorama, former Englad defender Sol Campbell told fans:"Stay at home. Watch it on TV. Don't even risk (going), you could end up coming back in a coffin."
Families of England players Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain said that they wont be attending the championship because of the threat of violent racist attacks.
"I wont accept racism at all," said Italy striker Mario Balotelli. The volatile Manchester City player experienced racism during his time in Serie A, and was abused by Juventus and Roma fans while playing for Inter Milan in 2009."If someone throws a banana at me in the street, I will go to jail because I will kill them." he added, reffering to an incident in Rome when someone threw a banana at him in a bar.
On a defensive note, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said:"Nobody who comes to Poland will be in any danger because of his race. This is not our custom, as is not pointing out similar incidents in other countries."
