Soccer-Santos player suffers racist abuse at Gremio

By Andrew Downie SAO PAULO, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Gremio officials were helping police with their enquiries on Friday after fans shouted racial abuse at a Santos player during a Brazilian Cup match, the club said. Supporters shouted "Monkey" and other racist taunts at goalkeeper Aranha during the match on Thursday at the Gremio Arena, a new stadium opened less than a year ago in Porto Alegre. Santos won the first leg 2-0. Gremio apologised to Aranha and said they had launched an investigation to identify the culprits. "The club's Legal Department, in conjunction with the administrators of the Arena, are taking every measure possible so that the people involved in this episode are identified and so that all materials at our disposal are sent to police in order for them to launch appropriate criminal proceedings," the club said in a statement on their website. Gremio said the offensive supporters were in no way representative of the club and promised to ban anyone found guilty of racism. Santos called the attacks "inadmissible" and although acknowledging the abuse was isolated the club said it was impossible to ignore. Aranha was clearly upset and his team mates and manager said it could have had an impact on the result. "We need to inhibit this kind of act, because if we don't then we are in a way condoning it," Santos said in a statement. "The only word I have for this is disappointment," Aranha added. "Today, I was the victim. But this has happened before and it will keep happening if we don't take action to stop it." The club said they would take "appropriate measures" with specifying what they would be. The episode was the latest in a string of unsavoury incidents to taint Brazilian football and the second high-profile one involving Santos. International midfielder Arouca was racially abused this year by fans of Mogi Mirim after a Paulista state championship game. Authorities closed the Mogi stadium for several matches. The same month fans left bananas on a referee's car in the south of the country. Racism is a criminal offence in Brazil but few people are charged and even fewer are jailed. Around six percent of Brazilians class themselves as "black". A majority of the country's 200 million people consider themselves to be "dark-skinned." (Editing by Ed Osmond)