There is a great deal of hand-wringing in today's press, one of the more sober observations comes from The Guardian:
'It is less than the 150,000 Swiss francs fine levelled at the English FA after racist songs were sung at the Euro 2004 qualifier against Turkey at Sunderland in 2003, and half the amount that the Cameroonian FA had to pay for allowing its national team to play in an unauthorised kit in the 2004 African Cup of Nations.'
"It's nice to see that Fifa has woken up for Christmas, but this is an absolutely pathetic response," said. Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality.
"It gives licence to football authorities across the world to ignore racist behaviour, and every football fan will know it: £48,000 for a football authority is luncheon vouchers - it's not even Thierry Henry's weekly wage. "This whole affair stemmed from the decision not to censure Aragonés. What he said about Henry was pure racism, and the Spanish FA did nothing, Uefa did nothing and Fifa did nothing, which led the fans to know they could do as they pleased and not face censure. This decision sends out a message that the world governing body is not prepared to do anything about racism."
Piara Powar, director and spokesman for Kick It Out, believes the ruling proves Fifa are not taking the issue of racism seriously enough.
"Our reaction is [that] this doesn't go far enough," he said. "We would have expected the Spanish to be forced to play behind closed doors and warned about any incidents of racism at future games. The extent and the impact of what happened at the Bernabéu was so far-reaching and so important that Fifa needed to send out a clear and decisive message that there is no excuse for any country that doesn't meet the challenge of tackling racism."
The chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, Gordon Taylor, added: "I think the general feeling in England will be one that the sanction is far too lenient, and I would be one of those who thinks that way."
Other fines:
150,000 Swiss francs
England for pitch invasions and racist chanting against Turkey in Euro 2004 qualifying (May 2003)
60,000Sf
Sparta Prague for monkey chants against Lyon in the Champions League (Nov 2004)
15,000Sf
Real Madrid for racist chanting and Nazi salutes against Bayer Leverkusen (Nov 2004)