Italian newspaper shows Mario Balotelli as King Kong atop Big Ben

Prior to Italy's Euro 2012 match with England, an Italian newspaper published a picture depicting Italy star Mario Balotelli— who is black— as King Kong swatting soccer balls while clutching the top of Big Ben.

There was concern by players competing in Euro 2012 that racism could be a problem with fans in Ukraine and Poland.  I bet Balotelli didn't expect the racial insensitivity to come from his own country.

On Sunday, La Gazzetta dello Sport published a photo-illustration of the star striker with an accompanying story about the upcoming match.  The intent of the cartoon seemed to be that Balotelli and the Italians would beat England, but the execution was done in slightly poor taste.

Balotelli was racially abused at the Euro 2012 opener after hundreds of Spain fans made monkey noises at the international soccer star.  He threatened to walk off if he was harassed at any other matches.  In Italy's group-play match against Croatia, fans directed racist chants towards Balotelli and threw a banana onto the pitch during play.  The Croatian Football Federation was fined 80,000 Euros ($106,000) for the fan's actions.

Before the tournament, Balotelli— who was born in Palermo, Sicily— but is of Ghanaian descent, had expressed concerns about racial tension in the two host countries.

"I cannot bear racism, it's unacceptable to me.  If it had happened again, I would straight away leave the pitch and go home.  We are in 2012.  It can't happen," said the 21-year old.

Italy advanced against England with a 4-2 shootout win after both teams failed to score in regulation and overtime.  Italy will meet Germany in the semifinals on Thursday.

Sweden's soccer players use backup goalie's bare butt for target practice

The Sweden men's soccer team lost a disappointing Euro 2012 game against Ukraine on Monday and— after some critics back home made the team the butt of jokes— some of the players used one of their own bare backsides for target practice.

After Tuesday's practice session for players who were not involved in the team's loss against Ukraine, a group of players stood in a circle playing a game of keeping the ball in the air.  Backup goaltender Johan Wiland lost— and as punishment— had to walk to a nearby wall, pull down his shorts and point his bottom towards his teammates.  They each took turns aiming balls at him from about 20 yards away.

Now a Swedish anti-bullying group is up in arms about the bad example it sets for children.



Team members now have to respond to criticism in Sweden from Friends— a group that sponsors the team's national stadium in Stockholm— for using Wiland's bare backside for a bulls eye after a video of the private training session was published by the Swedish newspaper Expressen.

Friends general secretary, Lars Arrhenius, told Expressen the players were being "incredibly bad role models."

Several of the Swedish players said the whole thing is being blown out of proportion.

"It's just a game," said midfielder Pontus Wembloom.  "It's not bullying if everyone wants to take part."

Defender Martin Olsson said the team often plays such games during training and he has been used as a target as well.

Wembloom cited an online campaign— that made fun of Sweden's Mikael Lustig's blown defense for the 2-1 loss— on social media networks called "Hold a Post," where fans posted photos of themselves holding on to lamp posts, light poles or any other poles.

"I think that's bullying," Wembloom said. "But Lustig takes it coolly and is just laughing about it."

Arrests and injuries before Russia-Poland Euro 2012 match

Another day and more brawls on the streets during the Euro 2012 soccer tournament.  These weren't exactly unanticipated occurrences either.  The whole tournament seems to have become a platform for hooligan violence.

This time Russian soccer fans clashed with police and Poland supporters in separate incidents on Tuesday— shortly before the two teams met in an emotionally-charged match in Warsaw, Poland.

The news agency PAP reported that police used water cannons and tear gas to quell the violence and that there were 56 arrests and 7 reported injuries before the game.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that one of the incidents was sparked by Polish fans attacking the 5,000-strong march to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Russian independence from the U.S.S.R..  This  was seen as provocative to many Poles who still harbor a grudge against the Moscow regime of the Cold War era.

A video of the fighting shows sucker punches being thrown and dozens of men kicking and beating each other with some of the injured lying bloodied in the streets.



Fans wearing ski masks scarfs to hide their identities threw bottles, chairs and stones at each other and Polish police are bracing for the worst if one of the teams loses— especially if there is a rout.

The two countries have a difficult history together and the fear is that there will be trouble after the match when emotions will run almost as high as the intoxicated fans.

Women go topless at Euro 2012 to protest prostitution

Members of the Ukrainian feminist group, Femen, have been removing their tops outside soccer stadiums at Euro 2012 in order to protest prostitution.

The Femen activists flooded the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland hoping to shed light on the world's oldest profession and the rampant Ukrainian sex trade crisis while hundreds of thousands of soccer fans around the world are watching.

Sounds like the group wants to get something off their chest in more ways than one, but doing it in front of gangs of leering, drunken men seems counter-productive.

The International HIV/Aids Alliance has handed out over a million condoms to fans and prostitutes in hopes of curbing the spread of diseases.

The sex trade is booming during the tournament as thousands of young women have migrated to the host cities with the hope of making some fast cash or even finding love "Pretty Woman" style.

Euro 2012 anti-hooligan police equipped with testicle-biting dogs

Polish anti-hooligan squads will be using everything from testicle-biting police dogs to sonic cannons capable of inducing involuntary urination to keep the peace at Euro 2012.  So if you plan on rabble rousing on your way to a soccer match, don't forget to wear your cup and a pair of Depends.

The English-language Krakow Post newspaper published an editorial warning that local law enforcement agencies were more than ready to tackle any hooligan threat in Krakow.  Even though no games will be played in that city, it has become a home base for the England team's fans.

"The Polish police are going to come down on troublemakers like a bag of anvils and you don't want to be there when it happens," the newspaper's editorial warned.

"Krakow has a long history of hooligan violence— the local police have seen it all before and they will ruin your day if you try it on.

"These lad's mums and dads rioted under Soviet machine guns— a few chairs thrown by beered-up fans is not going to intimidate them.  Do not expect softly, softly police tactics."

The newspaper did not sugarcoat its defense plan to the significant amount of English fans arriving in Krakow.

"Poland's anti-hooligan squads are armed with: Shotguns, firing baton rounds that probably won't kill you as long as you're 30m away, a truck-mounted cannon affectionately known as "the typhoon," a high-tech sonic cannon that can make you wet yourself on its lowest setting, dogs trained to bite you directly in the testicles."

About 3,000 England fans have bought tickets for Monday's opening game against France which will be played in Ukraine along with all of the other Group D games.