Footballers in the Netherlands to protest racism against Ahmad Mendes Moreira

In an attempt to draw the attention of the football fraternity to the sensitive topic of racism, the footballers of the Netherlands' top two divisions won't play the first minute of their games.

The decision came after Excelsior Rotterdam's Ahmad Mendes Moreira was racially abused by the Den Bosch supporters during a match on Sunday.

According to the latest developments in the matter, footballers of the Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie will stand still while the scoreboards display the message: "Racism? Then we don't play football."

To compensate for the lost minute of play, an extra minute will be added to the game before half-time.

The entire Dutch football community has condemned the abuse of Moreira. Among the footballers who verbally expressed concerns about the abuse include Dutch international players such as Lyon forward Memphis Depay and Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum. The latter claimed that the abuse hit him on a personal level.

The referee had to take off the players just after half an hour of play because of the abuse initiated by a section of the home supporters. However, the match was resumed after some time.

In the meantime, the Dutch football association said that it will investigate the matter and look into possible sanctions against Den Bosch and their fans.

Such an initiative came from the association after multiple Dutch players expressed their concerns regarding the shocking incident.

On Tuesday night, the Netherlands defeated Estonia 5-0. After Wijnaldum scored the first of his three goals, he along with Dutch teammate Frenkie de Jong, pointed towards their skin colour as a means of showing protest against racial discrimination.

BBC reports that Den Bosch has already apologised to Moreira for declaring that the striker mistook "crow sounds" for racist abuse.

Recently, European football has been tainted by a series of racial discrimination incidents. A few weeks ago, Brescia striker Mario Balotelli was reported to have been racially abused. As a result, he threatened to walk off the pitch. In another incident, Shakhtar Donetsk forward Taison was sent off the field as he reacted to the crowd's racist jeers during a live game.