Euro 2012

[Colly]

Any idea if the opening ceremony is on the BBC Hoddel? Don't wanna miss any gold.

[Lineker]

*Hoddle. I know what you're doing. I'm not answering your question just for that!

[Colly]

Can't believe I have to pay the license fee for that.

[Lineker]

Can't argue with class.

[Liam]

Jermain Defoe returns from England camp after father dies

England striker Jermain Defoe has returned home from the team's Euro 2012 training base in Krakow following the death of his father.

The Tottenham forward is expected to return to the squad in due course and no replacement will be called up.

England's first match is on Monday against France.

Wayne Rooney is ineligible for the first two matches of the tournament, and the other strikers in the squad are Danny Welbeck and Andy Carroll.

Defoe appeared as a late substitute in England's final warm-up match, a 1-0 victory over Belgium at Wembley on Saturday. He was not expected to start against France.

More to follow.

[Summers]

Let's hope he scores vs France. Would be a nice moment for him.

[Colly]

Unleash him when we need a win and he'll bag a hat trick via the Peter Lovenkrands precedent.

[Lineker]

Poor Jermain . First his brother and now his father, in the space of just a few years. Hopefully he can bang in a few goals for them when he rejoins the squad in Poland.

Foreign Office: No ministers will attend group games of Euro 2012 due to concerns over jailing of Ukrainian opposition leader

[King Ellis]

I keep seeing "We do not fear France - Downing" as the current headline on the BBC Sport site and misread it as "We do not fear Downing - France".

[stokeriño]

Yeah, but that wouldn't be news to anyone.

[King Ellis]

I think it'd be news that they knew who he was.

[therockbox]

And it begins...

Euro 2012 was plunged into its first racism controversy after the black players in the Holland squad were subjected to monkey chants during an open practice session in the same city where England will also invite the public to watch them train on Friday.

Several hundred people targeted players such as Nigel de Jong and Gregory van der Wiel when 25,000 spectators attended the Dutch practice session at the Stadion Miejski, the home of Wisla Krakow.

The players, on the instructions of the captain, Mark van Bommel, responded by moving their training drills to the other side of the ground. "It is a real disgrace especially after getting back from Auschwitz [the Dutch squad had visited the concentration camp on Wednesday] that you are confronted with this," Van Bommel said. "We will take it up with Uefa and if it happens at a match we will talk to the referee and ask him to take us off the field."

The problems occurred as the players began the session by jogging a lap of the pitch only to be greeted at one end of the stadium with monkey noises and loud jeers. On the second circuit, they were even louder and it was then the players decided not to go around again. "At least now we know what we can encounter," the Holland coach, Bert van Marwijk, said with heavy cynicism. "Very atmospheric."

Uefa subsequently tried to deny that it was racially motivated, saying they had checked with the Dutch squad and had been told it was not thought to be of that nature. Instead, the official line is that a small part of the crowd was protesting about the fact that Krakow had not been made one of the host cities. Another theory that has been put forward is that Wisla's supporters did not want their stadium being used by anyone but their own club and were simply booing the Dutch players.

Van Bommel, however, responded angrily when it was put to him not everyone had heard monkey noises. "You need to open your ears," he said. "If you did hear it, and don't want to hear it, that is even worse."

Privately, the midfielder is understood to be unhappy that the authorities are not treating the issue more seriously, but the incident is still threatening to be a major embarrassment for Uefa, coming before a ball has even been kicked, and will increase the scrutiny on Poland's supporters when the tournament opens with the co-hosts playing Greece in Warsaw on Friday.

The Polish authorities have been eager to dispel the sense that the backdrop to this tournament will have racism at its centre, and the country's prime minister, Donald Tusk, went through an elaborate public relations exercise on Thursday to drive home the point. Tusk was accompanied by a television crew on a 90-mile journey to Lodz to dine with Poland's first black parliamentarian, John Godson, and his family, including relatives who had flown in from Nigeria. The idea was to show the improvements both in Poland's road network and acceptance of different races.

Godson criticised the BBC Panorama documentary Euro 2012: Stadiums of Hate that had warned racism would be rife. He argued that Poland was a "hospitable and tolerant country" while Tusk wore a badge that said "Welcome" and said he was convinced there would be no problems: "I very warmly invite all English people. You will definitely not encounter anything unpleasant here."

Panorama had focused on the racist elements in the support of Krakow's two major clubs, Wisla and Cracovia, as well as highlighting the seriousness of the problem in Ukraine. Michel Platini, the Uefa president, has subsequently said the referees have been empowered to take teams off the pitch if there are serious issues – but added that any player who walked off without permission would be booked.

The families of two of England's black players, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott, have already decided against travelling to the tournament because of the potential problems. England are based in Krakow, along with the Netherlands and Italy squads, and will allow the public to watch Friday's practice session at Hutnik stadium on the outskirts of the city.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jun/07/euro-2012-holland-racist-abuse?CMP=twt_gu

[Cymbols]

Well that sucks, I kinda expected it but if several hundred out of 25thousand people did it, then that's a huge issue. Because that's more than just a few people doing it.

[Summers]

I love the fake excuses. It's fucking insane. This is going to end badly.

[9 to 5]

Don't worry, we won't get this in Russia!

[Cymbols]

I love the fake excuses. It's fucking insane. This is going to end badly.

I agree. UEFA are reacting totally wrongly to the racist argument. They should aknowladge the issues and work to solve them as opposed to denying their existance.

[Lineker]

Disgusting.

[Summers]

The English lads are gonna get so much abuse. It's just horrible, a real nasty situation.

[Crybaby Bunting]

If FIFA could, they'd just ban every black footballer from coming so the tournament would run smoothly and the sponsors would be pleased

[therockbox]

I love the fake excuses. It's fucking insane. This is going to end badly.

It definitely feels like that, doesn't it? Horrible feeling there's the potential for something very nasty to happen.