Punish clubs to silence the racists or risk players walking off COMMENT

IF there is one scrap of consolation we can take out of this latest allegation of racist abuse being spewed from a football stadium seat, it is that at least players are showing the leadership to report it.

Antonio Rudiger told his captain and Cesar Azpilicueta told the referee, Anthony Taylor, who then followed the protocol.

But it is what happens after the protocol that counts.

It is what happens after the initial outrage, after the social media anger, after the reports in your newspapers, after the slogans have been forgotten, that counts. It was clear, even from a distance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, that Rudiger was upset by what he heard or saw in the stands.

An investigation by the club, authorities and, presumably, the police will follow.

But whether this case is proven or not – and Azpilicueta says Rudiger was adamant he was abused – it is clearly a problem that is either creeping insidiously back into the English game… or has never been away.

The time came some while ago when we could not go damning other nations for their failure to tackle racism seriously without taking a long, hard look at the problems on our own shores.

And equally, we cannot go demanding the heaviest of punishments on foreign clubs and authorities if we do not demand the heaviest of punishments on our own soil.

When it happens in English stadia, the standard response is any culprits will be tracked down and banned for life from that particular club. That is not enough. When England players are racially abused in Bulgaria, the clamour is for that nation to be hammered.

Stadium closure, massive fine, kicked out of the competition even.

The same standards should apply to the English domestic game.

And any proven offence of racial abuse inside a stadium should lead to severe sanctions, including ground closures, against the club.

That might concentrate the bigoted, idiotic minds of the abusers.

If it does not, the time for the players to walk off cannot be far away.