Dutch legend Gullit hopes it's a one-off
Dutch legend Ruud Gullit hopes that the racist chanting at the Netherlands' public training session in Poland was a one-off, warning that such incidents tarnished the Euro 2012 hosts' reputation.
Dutch legend Ruud Gullit hopes that the racist chanting at the Netherlands' public training session in Poland was a one-off, warning that such incidents tarnished the Euro 2012 hosts' reputation.
"I think this is an opportunity for Poland and Ukraine to show the world what beauty they have, what the country has to offer," Gullit told reporters in the Polish capital Warsaw, where the European championship was to kick off later Friday.
"It's a pity that a small group took the opportunity to abuse that view of your country. I hope that this was just an incident," the captain of the Euro 1988 winning Dutch squad said.
European football's governing body, though, stopped short of launching a formal investigation, saying it had not received a formal complaint from the Dutch football federation (KNVB). A senior UEFA official said that a small group of protesters targeted the training ground, unhappy at Krakow not being one of Poland's four Euro 2012 host cities.