Players in the top two divisions of Dutch football stood still for the first minute of matches this past weekend as a protest against racism.
An anti-racism message – “Racism? Then we don’t play football’ – will be displayed on scoreboards during the opening minute at Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie games and an extra minute was added to first-half injury time.
The move came after the Excelsior forward Ahmad Mendes Moreira was racially abused by a section of Den Bosch supporters. The game was suspended for half an hour after the referee decided to take the players off the pitch
The Dutch football association said it will investigate and look into possible sanctions against Den Bosch and their supporters after several of the Netherlands side admitted they had been shocked by the incident.
Liverpool’s Georginio Wijnaldum and Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong pointed to the colour of their skin after Wijnaldum scored the first of his three goals in the Netherlands’ 5-0 Euro 2020 qualifying victory over Estonia.
