ALL Italian football league games will kick off five minutes late this week — by order of the sport’s governing body — so that players can demonstrate against racist fans.

They will stand on the pitches holding up banners reading “No to racism” to protest about an incident on Sunday in which Inter Milan fans jeered and insulted the Messina defender Marc André Zoro, who is from the Ivory Coast.

The fans imitated monkey sounds and movements. Zoro, 21, threatened to leave the game 20 minutes into the second half, tucking the ball under his arm. Two Inter players, Adriano and Obafemi Martins, persuaded him to carry on. Zoro said that he was sick of being subjected to racial abuse “always, wherever I go”.

The incident made front-page news even in a country where right-wing skinhead fans known as “ultras” often chant racist slogans and hold up banners glorifying Benito Mussolini.

“Anywhere else they would have stopped the game,” said Il Messaggero, the Rome daily. “It is time to stop this pollution of the game by a minority of imbeciles.” Zoro told reporters that “in Italy it is more a question of ignorance than of racism. He said: “Something must be done to help us, because we have relatives over here and these insults do a lot of harm to our families.”

He said that he felt at home in Italy and often tried to persuade outsiders that Italians were not racist. “But now I feel ashamed. Something comes over the fans when they get to the stadium. I dont think they understand what they are doing.”

A spokesman for the Italian Government said that the Messina episode was “a stain on the honour of Italy”.

Massimo Moratti, president of Inter, said that Zoro had reacted in an intelligent way. He recalled that Paul Ince had also been subject to racist abuse when hired by the club ten years ago.

Of Italy’s 151 Serie A players, 52 are non-white, with Inter fielding 19, Juventus 12, AC Milan 13, AS Roma 12 and Udinese 10. Messina has eight.

Four years ago Giambattista Pastorello, president of Verona football club, admitted that he was unable to buy the Cameroon player Mboma “because our fans would never accept the colour of his skin”.

The same year, when Treviso fans insulted a black player, Omo Lade of Nigeria, his teammates took to the pitch with their faces painted black to express solidarity. Inter has apologised for the Zoro incident but could still face a fine or be made to play their next game in an empty stadium under a new law tightening security.

Paolo di Canio, the Lazio captain, said: “Many fans chant racist slogans just to be annoying.”

Pierluigi Collina, Italy’s internationally renowned referee, said that racism on the terraces was “an international phenomenon, regrettably. I’ve heard this kind of chanting in many countries.”

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