Footballers in the Netherlands’ top two divisions will not play during the first minute of their matches this weekend to draw attention to racism.

It comes after the racial abuse of Excelsior’s Ahmad Mendes Moreira by Den Bosch fans on Sunday.

While players in the Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie stand still, the message ‘Racism? Then we don’t play football’ will appear on scoreboards.

An extra minute will be added on to injury time in the first-half.

The abuse of Moreira was condemned by many Dutch international footballers including Lyon forward Memphis Depay, while Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum said the incident “really hit me on a personal level”.

During the Netherlands’ 5-0 over Estonia on Tuesday, Wijnaldum and team-mate Frenkie de Jong pointed to the colour of their skin after the Liverpool star scored the first of his three goals.

Den Bosch have apologised to Moreira for declaring the striker mistook “crow sounds” for racist abuse during the Dutch second division match.

The referee brought the players off after half an hour as a result of the abuse from a section of the home fans.

Dutch football authorities have opened an investigation after the incident.

Source: Read Full Article