Religious symbols will be banned at the stadiums in Poland during the European football championship - 2012. The new rules of conduct at the matches, worked out by the Polish Football Union, include toughening of requirements to religious attributes. Fans, trying to ignore the ban, risk missing football. The Bible and crosses were banned at Polish stadiums along with vuvuzelas.
Religious symbols will be banned at the stadiums in Poland during the European football championship - 2012. The new rules of conduct at the matches, worked out by the Polish Football Union, include toughening of requirements to religious attributes. Fans, trying to ignore the ban, risk missing football. The Bible and crosses were banned at Polish stadiums along with vuvuzelas. The public, especially religious people, did not approve of the news (let me remind you that Poland is one of the most religious countries in Europe). A human rights defender and the head of the Center of legal protection "Moscow - Russians" Michael Yoffe considers the struggle with religious symbols at Polish stadiums to be a political trend of the European Union countries. "I think, that Poland has decided to support the part of the European community, which believes that people come to the stadiums to root for their teams. It is not at all connected with religion. Such a restriction was introduced in connection with this. In this situation Poland took the side of the part of the European society, France for example, which had limited the wearing of hijab in public places, on the street, in schools, etc. Thus they support the European Union policy." Though in a way, the prohibition of religious objects at the stadiums is a unique act, but it is not the first restriction for the fans. The history of world football knows several cases when some objects were banned, Honoured Master of Sports, football columnist Eugene Lovchev tells. "It happened in Portugal. The Russian group played in a town of Faro, near the border with Spain. Around the stadium (and it was all sand and clay everywhere) there were some sheds, where we had to leave our cameras, bags and everything. The most interesting thing is that afterwards one had to stand in an enormous queue to get it all back." According to the experts, the new set of rules will not come into effect. And even if it is adopted, it will be thoroughly revised. In the opinion of Eugene Lovchev, the news of the ban on religious objects for Euro-2012 is another attempt of the Polish authorities to draw additional attention to the country in anticipation of the Championship. According to some data, under the pressure of public opinion the Polish football Federation is not so strict in their demands anymore. And taking into account that it is still more than two months left until the start of the final part of the European Championship, the attitude of the Polish football functionaries can change a lot. Source: Voice of Russia
