I am writing to ask about racism and safety in the stadiums. I am black and I know that in the past year it has become a trend to hear monkey chants in stadiums across Spain. Inspite of this I still Spanish football and plan to go to Spain to watch several matches. Are Riazor and Anoeta realatively free of this? I will watch Depor vs Sociedad, Sociedad vs Barca and Barca vs Malaga. I was at Camp Nou last year and there were no incidents then, but am still a bit worried. Thanks

Hi Jimmy, we don't think there is anything to worry about. Yes, there have been some incidents of racist chants by undesirable elements which we have discussed in length in these pages in the past, but most grounds are free of that and we haven't heard of any incident where people have been attacked because of their ethnic background. (there was one isolated case during the Espanyol v Barcelona derby, where a group of Chinese Americans were punched by a couple of thugs, but that was as much because they were wearing Barça shirts as for any racially motivated attack - the perpetrators were identified, fined and banned from the ground). We think in most cases you will find the fans very hospitable, and it is certainly safer to attend a game in Spain than in say England.

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