The Euros start today. The racism started yesterday

We have all been looking forward to Euro 2012 but the spectre of racism was always there. Yesterday, before it even begins, it struck at a Dutch training session in Krakow.

For months, even longer in some cases, we have been warned that racism could be an issue at Euro 2012. With local league matches apparently having a problem, subsequently confirmed by a BBC documentary, we had been assured by Uefa that the problem wouldn’t be allowed to affect the tournament.

However, before a competitive ball was kicked, a racist incident has occurred, at a Dutch training session in Krakow.

It happened at Stadion Miejski, the home of Wisla Krakow, where 25,000 fans turned out to watch the Netherlands squad go through their paces. But a group of people directed monkey chants at Nigel De Jong and Gregory van der Wiel whenever they passed, forcing captain Mark Van Bommel to take action.

He moved their training drills to the opposite side of the pitch and afterwards the veteran midfielder was clearly disgusted.

"It is a real disgrace especially after getting back from Auschwitz [the Dutch squad had visited the concentration camp on Wednesday] that you are confronted with this," Van Bommel is quoted as saying in the Guardian today. "We will take it up with Uefa and if it happens at a match we will talk to the referee and ask him to take us off the field."

Uefa, incredibly, are trying to deny the incident was racist, claiming that it was either fans protesting at Krakow not being a host city or Wisla fans upset at anyone else using their stadium.

Van Bommel, understandably, had no time for those who tried to make excuses.

"You need to open your ears," he said. "If you did hear it, and don't want to hear it, that is even worse."

It is not exactly the best start to what should be three weeks all about football. Sadly, we expect this is an issue we will be revisiting again in the not too distant future.