Capital clubs' tolerance drive hailed by Uefa

HEARTS and Hibs have been praised by Uefa for their work to combat intolerance among supporters.

A report on the governing body's website Uefa.com commending the work against sectarianism being done by Celtic, Rangers, Hibs and Hearts, adds that "the Edinburgh sides are now more focused on fighting other kinds of discrimination, such as homophobia".
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The praise for the four clubs is timely, as it comes just days after the Scottish Football Association raised the prospect of points being deducted for future crowd problems caused by sectarianism.

"The carrot-and-stick approach - combining a promised reward with a threatened penalty - is having an encouragingly positive effect," said Uefa's public affairs director William Gaillard, who visited all four clubs last month.

Gaillard singled out the Tynecastle club's supporters' charter as an example of good practice in the fight against intolerance. "Hearts have produced a booklet which they give to fans, warning them of the sanctions - bans, fines, exclusion from matches - for sectarian or other unacceptable behaviour," said Gaillard.

The charter specifically mentions homophobia, racism and sectarianism as offences which will not be tolerated by the club, which remains the only SPL side to have employed an openly gay footballer, the late Justin Fashanu.

"Hibernian are also working tremendously hard to educate their supporters with activities within the community," added Gaillard.

A spokesman for Hearts said that Gaillard had shown "great interest" in the charter during his recent visit to Tynecastle. "We are delighted that Uefa have recognised our efforts, but we are not resting on our laurels," said the spokesman. "The charter is an evolving document which will change and improve every year. We also have a crowd behaviour group which meets to review progress and investigate other ways of making the match-day experience more pleasurable."

A spokesman for Hibs said: "It is pleasing that Uefa have taken note of what we are doing. We are always working to improve relationships with our supporters and within the community."

Taken from the Scotsman