We could ban these culprits for life, burn their season tickets and humiliate them. But that would fan the flames of hate COLLYMORE

THE easiest punishment to mete out to the Chelsea supporter who racially abused Raheem Sterling on Saturday evening would be a ban for life.

To burn his season ticket in front of The Shed and have him stand there while it was done so the rest of us could shout and swear and humiliate him as best we can.

The trouble is, that wouldn’t be effective, we would simply be perpetuating racism and fanning the flames of hate.

And in years to come, I guarantee he’d be saying to his son or grandson, ‘Those black ***** stopped me having a season ticket, next time you’re down at Chelsea give those black ******** from Manchester City, Manchester United or Arsenal a little bit from me’.

The better option would be to take his season ticket away and ban him until the end of the campaign.

And then next summer, tell him that he’s free to reapply, albeit from the back of the queue.

As part of the reapplication process, he must sit down with Paul Canoville, Paul Elliott or another black former Chelsea player and listen as they explain how upsetting, demeaning and emasculating it is to be racially abused.

They can tell him how little of a man you feel when you are on the end of such invective.

And if they could get into his brain and explain all that, then he might just pass on those lessons so others can learn from his mistakes.

Perhaps then, fewer and fewer people – not just footballers – will be subjected to the sort of vile abuse Sterling faced at the weekend while playing for City.

This fight isn’t just for black ex-pros and pundits or current players and coaches, though, it is for us all and not least, the British media.

I agree with Sterling that newspapers must carry the can for perpetuating racism and have been saying for years that the media on our shores is institutionally racist. The caveat is that this newspaper has Darren Lewis, Adrian Kajumba, Dean Wilson and myself on its sports staff, so it is heading towards an accurate representation.

The four of us can talk about and have a handle on this specific issue for the Daily Mirror which other newspapers simply cannot.

That said, the Football Writers’ Association and Sports Journalist Association is made up predominantly of white, middle-class males.

And in press boxes up and down the land you will see very few black, Asian or minority ethic faces other than ours.

TALKSPORT is our only national sports radio station and broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Yet since I left there are no BAME presenters.

Most of the mainline football