Loud speakers drown out Russian hate chants

Russian officials boomed out pre-recorded crowd noise to drown out abusive chants between rival fans during a Russian Premier League match on Sunday.

Fans of home side Ural Yekaterinburg and Amkar Perm, derby rivals with a long history of enmity,  were warned over the loudspeaker system that the match would be stopped if the 4,500 spectators continued their hate chants, but to no avail.

Instead match officials boomed canned crowd noise over the loudspeaker system at full blast to drown out the insults.

“We face this problem just once a year when Amkar come to play to Yekaterinburg,” Nikita Medvedevskikh, Ural Yekaterinburg press spokesman told AFP.

“The fans of the teams hate each other for decades claiming they’re the true masters of the Urals region. Yekaterinburg and Perm clubs’ authorities both failed to stop the hatred so far.”

Ural won the match 1-0 courtesy of a goal by Romanian midfielder Eric Bicfalvi.

Russia hosts the 2018 World Cup and some fear the games in 11 cities will see clashes between hooligan groups.