Euro 2012: Dutch Team Hears Racist Chants at a Training Session

Fears of racism at the Euro 2012 seem founded after a report that the Dutch team, and specifically black players Nigel de Jong and Gregory van der Wiel was subjected to monkey chants and other jeers during an open training session on Thursday in Krakow, Poland.

It is a real disgrace especially after getting back from Auschwitz that you are confronted with this, Dutch captain Mark van Bommel told The Guardian. 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 Dutch team, who are training in Poland, visited the site of the concentration camp Auschwitz on Wednesday, the day before the training session.

The players simply moved their drills to the other end of the pitch during practice after hearing the chants.

The incident seems to confirm fears that some had when Poland and Ukraine were selected as host nations for Euro. Both nations have an element of Nazism that is wrapped up with their local team firms, as Sky Sports News detailed in this report.

The BBC's Panorama also did an investigation which contained scenes of Asian students being beaten by Neo-Nazis in Kharkiv, Ukraine which is one of the host cities for the tournament.

Panorama - Euro 2012 Stadiums of Hate from Rosiboj on Vimeo.

Italian striker, and all around wild man, Mario Balotelli has said he will walk off the pitch at Euro if he hears racist chants.

Tournament organizers UEFA, whose record on racism is spotty at best, initially denied that anything had happened at the Dutch training, despite the stories told by the players. They eventually reversed course and admitted to isolated racist chants at the Dutch teams practice.

You need to open your ears, Van Bommel told The Guardian about UEFA's initial response. If you did hear it, and don't want to hear it, that is even worse.

UEFA had said the crowd was protesting that Krakow was not one of the host cities for Euro 2012.

The tournament kicks off in earnest Friday at noon ET when host nation Poland takes on Greece.