A charge of bringing the game into disrepute will be brought against players who accuse opponents of racially abusing them but refuse to follow through the allegation with a formal complaint.
The Football Association has become increasingly vexed by the phenomenon of players making accusations of racial abuse in the media but then declining to press charges when officials offer to intervene.
The FA believes that recent high-profile clashes involving Ian Wright and Peter Schmeichel, and Stan Collymore and Steve Harkness among others have left a festering image in the public's mind of a sport riven with racism but unable to do anything about it.
The Wright-Schmeichel saga caused particular consternation at Lancaster Gate and has still not been fully resolved. Recently West Ham's Eyal Berkovic claimed he was the victim of anti-semitic abuse in a match against Blackburn and Collymore accused Harkness of calling him "a coon". Neither player proceeded with the allegations, which disappeared amid a flurry of claims and counter-claims.
The FA initiative is a controversial last resort. Civil rights campaigners may argue that it will discourage victims from coming forward and turn those who do into pariahs for breaking the locker-room code. However the FA believes that issuing an allegation presupposes a willingness to carry it through and says it is determined to punish racists, even at the cost of chastising those who are reluctant to back up accusations.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)