UEFA are, rightly, being criticised for their decision to fine Serbia £65,000 for the racist chanting during, and the violent brawl after, a game with the England Under-21 team in October.
To put this into perspective Nicklas Bendtner was fined £80,000 for wearing sponsored underpants.
It’s clear that UEFA need to quickly get up to speed and realise that fines like this won’t do anything, the inconsistencies in their punishments are impossible to rationalise.
However it is worth a mention that the same inconsistencies exist in the Premier League as John Terry and Luis Suarez received very different punishments for the exact same crime.
The only way the issue of racism is going to be addressed is hand out much more consistent and much tougher punishments.
UEFA and all the Football Associations from across Europe could meet and agree to introduce lifetime bans for anyone, fans, players, managers, coaches etc who has either made a racist gesture or used racist language at a game.
That way there would be a zero tolerance, clear model in place and football can begin to liberate itself from this problem.
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