Atalanta fined over banana-throwing racism row

Serie A side Atalanta have been hit with a 40,000-euro ($55,000)fine by the Italian football federation (FIGC) on Tuesday after bananas were thrownat AC Milan defender Kevin Constant at the weekend.FIFA president Sepp Blatter had called for swift action after home fans threw twobananas and aimed racist chants at the French-born Guinean international inBergamo on Sunday.The incident comes just two weeks after Barcelona's Dani Alves picked up and ate abanana thrown at him from the crowd during a Spanish league game againstVillarreal.Atalanta President Antonio Percassi reportedly telephoned Milan CEO AdrianoGalliani after the incident to apologise for the abuse.And the FIGC confirmed on Tuesday that the team would be fined and that their next home game, at the start of next season, would be played with the North End (CurvaNord) of their stadium closed to fans, although that sanction has been suspended.Blatter had said in a Twitter post on Monday: "Racism, and gamesstopped/abandoned due to acts of hooliganism. Each Federation needs to act.Sanctions are available & HAVE to be applied."Part of Blatter's post was aimed at events which forced the early stoppage of aRussian Premier League game because the captain of a rival team was assaulted byfans.In Italy, Milan coach Clarence Seedorf, a former Dutch international who was bornin Surinam, on Sunday called for the banana-throwers to be banned for life."I hope that whoever was responsible will be banned from attending matches forlife," he told Sky Sport television.Early last year, Milan's Ghanaian international midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng ledhis team off the pitch during a friendly game against lower-league opposition ProPatria after suffering racial abuse.His gesture was widely applauded, with Blatter calling it a "really a strong sign," butwarned that walking off the pitch "can't be the solution".Atalanta, who are reported to be trying to identify the banana-throwers, said in astatement on Monday that Percassi would also be telephoning Constant personallyto apologise."Antonio Percassi will telephone Constant in order to officially apologise to him aswell," said the statement. Source: AFP