FA, EFL and Premier League keep no record of alleged racist incidents
Monday 8 April 2019 13:05, UK
The Football Association, EFL and Premier League do not hold records of alleged racist incidents directed by fans towards players, Sky Sports News understands.
The organisations insist it is instead a matter dealt with by the police, although the FA will investigate if there is mass chanting.
The Premier League has a scheme in place that all clubs are signed up to with assessors visiting clubs to ensure they have equality and diversity policies in place.
It is therefore down to individual clubs to gather statistics, which the Premier League can obtain, should they need to.
The Premier League recently launched their 'No Room for Racism' campaign as part of its commitment to help tackle discrimination in football.
Meanwhile, the EFL says it is not required to collate records of racism incidents as the league does not have the legislative powers to act on them.
There have been a number of incidents of alleged racial abuse this season, with last weekend seeing a spike in incidents both on the field and away from it.
On Saturday, a Brentford fan was arrested for an alleged racially aggravated offence against Derby County's Duane Holmes.
Police confirmed on Monday a 20-year-old man had been arrested and released under investigation in relation to a racist tweet sent to Wigan Athletic's Nathan Byrne.
The anti-racism charity, Kick It Out, is often used as a reporting body and latest figures show reports of discriminatory abuse in football increased 11 per cent last season - a sixth successive annual rise. Reports of racism made up 53 per cent of the overall total.
In relation to alleged racial abuse, the FA said: "The FA encourages any player who has been subjected to discriminatory abuse to report it immediately to the match referee.
"Once reported, the referee will follow the set procedure of alerting the club's safety officer and the relevant authorities to ensure the matter is dealt with swiftly.
"The FA investigates all forms of discriminatory abuse at any level of the game, working closely with our partners at Kick It Out."
