This from the Independent on Fifa's attempt to boot racism out of football for good.
The prospect of a club being relegated because of racist behaviour by their supporters, or a country being disqualified from the World Cup for failing to deal with the issue, became a shock reality last night as Fifa reversed years of leniency towards racism.
Stirred, perhaps, by a call to arms from Lilian Thuram, the French international, or maybe by a growing realisation that strict measures were required to eradicate a reviving scourge, the world governing body introduced a range of Draconian punishments. Adopting a proposal by Sepp Blatter, the president, the executive committee decreed that racist behaviour by supporters will be punishable, in the first offence, by a three-point deduction, in the second, by a six-point subtraction, and a third by relegation.
Confederations and national associations which failed to incorporate the measures could be excluded from international football for two years.
The development is long overdue. Racist abuse has been a feature of matches involving East European teams for at least a decade and in recent years it has become increasingly prevalent in western Europe as well, notably in
Roma had their ground closed, a relatively severe sanction. Normally, as was the case with the Spanish Football Association after
Vieira's view was understandable. Two years previously Thuram, his international team-mate, had spoken in the first Fifa Conference against Racism in