FA chairman Greg Clarke has apologised to England’s black players for the racist abuse they suffered on international duty.
Clarke was so horrified by the racism directed at Raheem Sterling, Danny Rose and Callum Hudson-Odoi from the crowd at the Euro 2020 qualifier in Montenegro last week that he has written to each of them personally to express his regret.
English football’s godfather says it should not be left to players to carry the fight against racism by reporting incidents themselves.
And he revealed the FA is reviewing its disciplinary process to ensure claims of racist abuse are looked at more thoroughly.
Jurgen Klopp insists he would take his players off the pitch in event of racial abuse
Speaking at the Equal Game conference at Wembley, Clarke admitted English football also needed to put its own house in order.
He said: “None of us can be naive enough to think racism doesn’t happen in all our countries.
“It’s happened in the UK this season and I’m pleased that clubs here have taken swift action to ban fans and we’ve banned a player for on-pitch racism too. But we must do more in England, more in Europe, and we must do this together. Now we must put some concrete actions in place.
“When Raheem Sterling, Danny Rose and Callum Hudson-Odoi speak with such maturity and eloquence, we must listen, we must respond – and we must not let them down.
Yaya Toure accuses football authorities of failing black players in racism fight
“I am using this match as an example of something that’s happening across all our societies across Europe. But the young men and women who take the field representing our clubs and countries are entitled to play football in a safe environment free from racial abuse.
“There should be no judgment call on whether something is of a strong magnitude – racism is racism.”
Clarke believes it is time to re-examine UEFA’s process for halting matches following racist abuse. Current guidelines allow officials to stop, suspend or abandon games, and he says they should now be lowered.
“The protocol asks the referee to stop the match if ‘racist behaviour is of 'a strong magnitude and intensity’,” he added. “I don’t think that is good enough, and we should take this opportunity to revisit these thresholds.”
