Russian league racism finding ‘beyond a joke’, says Frimpong

Emmanuel Frimpong said it was "beyond a joke" after the Russian Football Union yesterday rejected allegations that the Ufa midfielder was racially abused by Spartak Moscow supporters.

The union’s disciplinary committee said they found no evidence of racism after Frimpong claimed he was subjected to monkey chants at the first match of the Russian premier league season last Friday. The 23-year-old former Arsenal player was sent off after he raised a finger to the crowd in response and was suspended for two Premier League matches.

“We live in a crazy world,” the Ghanaian wrote on Twitter. “For the Russian FA to say they didn’t hear or see any evidence of racism is beyond a joke.”

The midfielder, who apologised for his reaction, was invited to attend the disciplinary committee hearing but did not appear.

“The match inspector and the match delegate did not note that there had been any disciplinary violations by Spartak supporters towards Frimpong in the match reports,” the head of the disciplinary committee Artur Grigoryants told reporters.

“There were no instances of racism. We have no grounds to take disciplinary sanctions against Spartak.”