England reported to Fifa after their own fans allegedly abuse Ferdinand brothers at San Marino game

England have been reported to Fifa after fans allegedly aimed racial abuse at Rio and Anton Ferdinand during last week's 8-0 victory over San Marino.

The complaint has been made by Football Against Racism in Europe (Fare), a pan-European organisation. It is understood the allegations concern a handful of England supporters who chanted about putting the Ferdinand brothers on a bonfire.

Fare admitted it had no eye-witnesses at the game and that its allegation is based partially on media comments.

Piara Powar, the executive director, said: “Although we did not have observers at the match we have pulled together evidence sent to us, including media comment, and have passed that on to Fifa. I think it’s one of those things that is very subtle.

“We would say racism and other forms of discrimination is not always banana-throwing and monkey chants.

“The people collating the reports believed it is strong enough to send on to Fifa. From the reports we have seen I personally think there was an undercurrent of race there, and other people have thought that it has been imbued with racist overtones. Whether Fifa think that is strong enough to take action is another question entirely and we accept that it is certainly an unusual report.”

Xenophobic incidents
Fare also reported alleged racist or xenophobic incidents at the Croatia versus Serbia and Poland versus Ukraine games. If Fifa do decide there is a case to answer, the Football Association could face a fine or more serious sanctions.

An FA spokesman said the organisation has received no official notification of any complaint.

The allegations came hours after Uefa urged players to make a stand against their own team-mates and supporters if they witness racist incidents.

European football’s governing body passed a proposal to tackle discrimination that was created by the Professional Football Strategy Council, which is chaired by the Uefa president, Michel Platini.

He said: "We will have some very heavy sanctions against these people and so we are trying to set up a laws, rules and means so that we can address this issue and the national associations can also fight racism."
Guardian Service