PFA chairman Carlisle urges Uefa to take tougher action on racism

Posted Saturday, June 09, 2012 by Goal.com

The former Burnley defender, who is currently making a documentary on the subject, believes racist chanting in Poland and Ukraine will test the European football governing body

The chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Clarke Carlisle, has urged Uefa to take tougher action against racism at Euro 2012.

The European football governing body confirmed on Friday that they had received reports of racist chanting at a Netherlands training session in Krakow.

However, they did not reveal whether the incident was set to be investigated and Carlisle has hit out at that stance.

He told BBC Sport: "I am disappointed by the hesitancy to confirm it, and to put the message out that this is something they want to take control of and investigate.

"I believe there are going to be several incidents where racist abuse will come to the fore. Uefa need to make sure if anything does arrive it's dealt with swiftly, efficiently, harshly and uniformly.

“It will be a real test of Uefa's strength of character and the protocol they have put in place to empower their officials to deal with these situations."

Former Burnley and Watford defender Carlisle is currently making a documentary on the problem of racism in football - a matter which was also highlighted in a recent BBC programme.

He continued: "I went to the Wisla Krakow-Crakovia Krakow derby and I heard the monkey chanting myself. It was horrible.

"When I spoke to chief of police in Krakow, he said there had been no incidents of racism or hooliganism in the past 14 months in the stadium. Then we went inside the stadium, saw half a dozen [incidents] and got them on camera.

"So I don't feel confident Euro 2012 is going to pass without incident when the authorities are painting a picture that doesn't reflect the reality."

"The reason I have reservations about Uefa is because their actions in the past on incidents of this type don't reflect other actions in the European game. You see fines being dished out to national associations that are less than those for red cards."

Carlisle, who campaigns for anti-discrimination initiative Kick It Out, also said he would support players who left the pitch if they "felt the situation was not being taken care of".

Uefa president Michel Platini recently insisted that referees will have the authority to end a match in the case of racial abuse, but warned that players could risk a booking if they leave without authorisation.