The Russian Football Union and Russian Premier League have each launched investigations into a “simply outrageous” incident in which a banana was thrown at Anzhi defender Christopher Samba, officials told RIA Novosti on Monday.
A banana was thrown from the VIP seats and landed near the Congolese player after Anzhi’s 1-0 away defeat to Lokomotiv Moscow on Saturday, echoing two similar incidents this season involving Samba’s teammate Roberto Carlos.
Russian Football Union president Sergey Fursenko told RIA Novosti that the case would be investigated by the federation’s ethics committee, which usually handles cases of match-fixing and has been inactive for several months.
“The incident with Samba is simply outrageous,” Fursenko said.
“I have sent the matter to the ethics committee, whose head Pavel Borodin has been informed of the need to examine this incident.”
Fursenko said that no date had been set for the committee to meet, and that it would also consider the cases involving Roberto Carlos.
Lokomotiv Moscow president Olga Smorodskaya told RIA Novosti on Monday that video footage didn't reveal any bananas having been thrown, and suggested the incident was staged to discredit her club as racist.
The league has formed its own taskforce to look into the incident, Russian Premier League executive director Sergey Cheban said.
The group will be headed by the league’s safety director Alexander Meytin, Cheban said, adding that he would request documents from the TV channel that broadcasts the games.
“We have requested all the relevant documents and materials in the possession of the clubs and our partners at NTV Plus,” he said.
“We’ll collect them, study them, evaluate them and then see what we will do.”
The incident occurred just days after a Krylya Sovetov fan was arrested and released without charge for throwing a banana at Roberto Carlos in June 2011.
The fan, named locally as Vyacheslav Prokhorov, claimed he was frustrated with his team’s performance in the 3-0 defeat, and bore no malice against the Brazilian left-back.
At a ceremony before Roberto Carlos’ first game in Russia in March 2011, a Zenit St. Petersburg fan leaned over a railing offering him a peeled banana.
Zenit and Krylya Sovetov were fined $10,000 by the Russian Football Union for each of the incidents.
