Ukraine's stray dogs - a victim of Euro 2012

Football fans will know that next year sees the finals of Euro 2012.

It's a footballing feast held every four years and a showcase for the Beautiful Game in Europe.

This time around it's being hosted jointly, by Poland and Ukraine, who together with 14 other countries will take part in the tournament.

Millions of television viewers will doubtless be glued to their screens from the kick off in the Polish capital Warsaw on June 8 to the final in the Ukraine capital Kiev on July 1.

Concerns have been voiced over the past couple of years by Uefa (Union of European Football Associations) - the game's governing body in Europe - especially about the infrastructure and progress of the scheduled venues in both countries.

But the marketing and promotion machine is now in full swing and everything looks set to kick off as scheduled.

Except in all the hullabaloo and spin in the run up to the tournament, there's one subject that hasn't been getting so much media coverage: how Ukraine is going about the job of getting rid of its stray dog problem.

Stray dog in Ukraine (screenshot from RT report)

And it is a huge issue as Russian-based RT television news recently reported.

With "tens of thousands of animals roaming the streets of the country's cities" Ukraine's stray dog population presents a health risk. People are apparently being bitten regularly and there's the risk of infection.

The solution as far as the authorities are concerned has been to "remove, kill and burn stray dogs in a mobile crematorium".

But the methods used have apparently outraged animal rights activists in Ukraine who deem the practice cruel and claim that some of the animals are still alive when they're being burnt.

They've been gathering signatures in an online petition for some time now in an effort to bring wider attention to the way in which authorities have been going about the clean-up campaign and to urge former French international and current Uefa president Michel Platini to use his influence.

And last week they were joined by the French animal charity Fondation 30 millions d'amis.

"Is the killing of thousands of animals in the most squalid conditions in keeping with the image of a world class sporting event?" asks the Fondation on it website.

The answer, as far as the charity is concerned, is clearly "no" and it has launched its own petition in an open letter to both Platini and the Ukranian president Viktor Yanukovych.

It's demanding that a stop be put to the "massacre" and a suitable sterilisation, transportation and rehoming programme be set up.

Watch the RT clip (the presenter warns that the images might be disturbing) and see what you think.

While there's little or no likelihood that Ukraine will be stripped from hosting Euro 2012 - as some animal rights activist have called for - perhaps it can be discouraged from destroying stray dogs in the way it has been doing recently.

Platini speaks out over jeering of French national anthem

The controversy rumbles on here in France over what action - if any - should be taken when there's whistling or jeering during the singing of the French national anthem before an international football match.

And now the president of Uefa, and former French international, Michel Platini has weighed into the debate saying that the most recent incident on Tuesday evening had been blown entirely out of proportion.

In an interview with the national daily, Le Monde, Platini said that football was in danger of being taken hostage by politicians.

"The incident of the whistling during the singing of the anthem has become a political affair," he said.

"It has nothing to do with the sport."

Platini went on to say that it was something that had happened on numerous occasions in the past and shouldn't be interpreted as an insult against France but simply a "display against an opponent on the evening."

"When I was playing in the national team some 30 years ago, the anthem was jeered on a number of occasions both at home and abroad," he told the paper.

"At the time politicians weren't interested in football and it didn't shock anyone."

Platini's comments come four days after an international friendly between France and Tunisia at the national stadium in Paris, La Stade de France.

As Franco-Tunisian singer Lââm launched into the opening bars of la Marseillaise, large sections of visiting supporters started whistling.

There was an outcry in the national press the following day and condemnation from all sides of the political spectrum, with the prime minister, François Fillion, leading the charge and calling the incident "insulting".

A poll conducted later by CSA revealed that 80 per cent of the French agreed.

The day after the game, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy hauled in the president of the French Football Federation, Jean-Pierre Escalettes, and afterwards it was left to the sports minister, Roselyne Bachelot, to tell journalists what the government wanted to happen in the future.

"All matches would be stopped immediately if supporters whistled during the singing of the national anthem," she said.

"Any government ministers present would leave immediately and the stadium would be cleared," she went on.

"Future friendlies between France and the country involved would be suspended for a period to be determined by the French Football Federation".

While Bachelot was undoubtedly expressing the wishes of her boss, police unions among others were quick to point out just how impractical it would be for a stadium holding 50,000 plus supporters to be cleared quickly and quietly.

But that didn't stop Escalettes from insisting that such measures were feasible and that it would be entirely possible to clear a stadium peacefully if the will was shown.

"It would be difficult but not impossible," he said.

"If the police, the football federation and the minister of sport worked hand in hand it could happen," he added.

Everyone needs to get together to sort out how to go about it should this happen in the future.

Perhaps the last word - for the moment, as there are plenty of others being spoken and written - should be left with William Gaillard, Uefa's director of communications, who reminded anyone who was listening that it was not the politicians who were in charge of the match.

"Who's going to stop the game?" he asked. "For the moment it's the referee who decides whether to call a halt to the match, not the French government."