BRIGHTON (England), Sept 9: International soccer teams should be thrown out of European competitions if they fail to stop racist abuse by fans, the head of Britain’s race equality board said Tuesday.

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, said many people were “sickened” by the behaviour of some fans towards England players during the Euro 2004 qualifying game in Macedonia on Saturday.

The tide has been turned against racism in British football grounds thanks to campaigns by the CRE and the Professional Footballers’ Association, he said, and the same kind of leadership was now needed across Europe.

“I am determined to see that when our teams play in Europe, it is our standards that the authorities adopt not those of Skopje or of Slovakia,” Phillips told the Trades Union Congress (TUC) annual conference in Brighton.

“Just as we in Britain prosecute racists and ban them from our grounds, the EU and European football authorities should demand precisely the same from every footballing nation in Europe,” he said.

“Where nations fail to deliver, they should face serious consequences. The abuse and assault suffered by black players is now such that in my view it constitutes unfair interference in the game itself.”—AFP