5 May 2009Chanting abuse could lead to a points deduction

Football Referees, Players, Managers and Media | Football Supporters News

New proposals put forward by the Football Association could lead to teams being deducted points if their fans abuse the supporters, players or managerial staff of another club.

The proposals identify that racist, homophobic and religious abuse from fans of a club will see league points docked, with tribunals given the responsibility of analysing each game on its merits.

Furthermore, the tribunals will be used to assess incidents at all levels of football, with certain cases already being highlighted in grass roots level football.

John Mann, the Labour MP who is leading the Football Association working party, told the Times: "There is some extraordinarily outdated racism at the lower grassroots levels of football which, if it was in the work place, no employer would tolerate.

"The issue is abuse from the touchline, especially from parents and spectators. It is not surprising there are virtually no home-grown Jewish or Muslim football players in Britain."

He added that the problem has also been witnessed with the national football team in locations such as Croatia and Spain and the fact that teams could be deducted points or even relegated due to the problem may cause fans to think more about their actions.

In 2004, FIFA looked into the fact that England players Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips were subjected to monkey chants from Spanish fans.

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