It would be unfair to state that racism is only going on in the places we have mentioned, as it always has been (and remains) a problem the world-over, not just in football but in society. Racism has never gone away, and it is inevitable that football grounds, where thousands of young men gather on a weekly basis, are going to reflect our society.

"BOSTON 'KEEPER MAKES RACISM COMPLAINT

The Football Association are being asked to investigate claims that Boston goalkeeper Nathan Abbey was racially abused by Rochdale fans on Saturday.

Rochdale chairman David Kilpatrick said: "Rochdale is a community with a high ethnic population - we have never had any orchestrated racial abuse at the club and I wouldn't condone it."

Boston also wrote to the FA complaining of racist chanting towards Abbey and team-mate Danny Thomas in last week's game with Mansfield Town.

Speaking after that game at Field Mill, Abbey said: "I knew I would get stick because I played for their rivals Chesterfield, but all of a sudden there was a group who started monkey chants.

"Danny told me he heard monkey chants in the first-half when he took corners.

"We spoke and decided to make an official complaint; we shouldn't have to tolerate it. - rivals.net -"

This is just one of many events that have been covered in the media during the last couple of days. And although it may seem that events like this are rare at The City Ground... I can remember hearing "No Surrender" sung to our Welsh counterparts from Cardiff during our clash earlier this season.

Not only is that illogical and proves that the offenders are idiots, but offended myself personally. Coming from a very ethnic background and wearing an Ireland football jersey at the time it made feel sick to think that I have been associating myself with these people week-in-week-out.

Fortunately I must make it clear that the majority of football fans are a nice bunch and would not condone such behaviour. Sadly however, it is the vocal minority which are giving the silent minority a bad name.

So what can we do to try and prevent such incidents from occurring? Many have suggested lifetime bans and criminal prosecution for those found guilty of racial abuse, others have suggested that clubs found to have a high number of racist fans to be fined "X" amount and be forced to play "X" amount of matches behind closed doors. Others feel that this is too harsh.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has stated that no player should be forced to play whilst being racially abused. He stated, following the abuse directed at black England players during their clash with Spain, that anybody who is experiencing such a problem would have his full backing should he wish to leave the field of play.

Sometimes however I feel that the player might not have the courage to leave the field after being de-moralised by a barrage of abuse, and so I feel that the managers, captains or officials should take it into their games to leave the field/have the match abandoned.

An online petition can be found here (http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?rasicm04) but is hardly likely to change the world.  It is my view that something is needed to be done at the top to prevent the problem at the roots. Educating school-children would be a good way to stop the rot even before it sets in.

Let's Kick Racism out of Football (kickitout.org - check it out) has THEGLORYDAYS.co.uk's full backing and is a campaign which has been ongoing for some while now. It has been doing some very good work recently and has provided black and other ethnic minority players with support and a place to have their voices heard.

ANDY COLE ON RACISM IN FOOTBALL: "There is a new generation of foreign managers who have come into the Premiership and the great thing about them is they are all open-minded," said 33-year-old Cole.

"They give everyone an opportunity if they believe they are good enough. For me, that's the way forward.

"When I was a teenager looking to join a club I was at one ground and a certain player came up to me and said: 'Are you all right, Chalkie?'

"It set my mind against that club there and then, and I decided I wouldn't be signing for them.

"To be honest, it would have been better for me personally if I'd signed for that club at that time, but that incident changed my mind and I went to Arsenal instead.

"Nowadays whether you are black or white is not an issue. If you're good enough you are going to get picked - white, black, yellow or green, who cares?

"I was never put off from a career in football because of racist comments.

"To consider retiring from the game or not playing because a few people are saying certain things means you're weak and I refuse to be put down like that. -kickitout.org"

There also seems to be a lack of Asian players in the higher leagues, and it seems very hard to believe that there is not a single talented Asian footballer, I have met many myself!

JERMAINE DEFOE: "At my school there were loads of really good Asian players. To get more Asian players in the game would be good. The talent is there."

Anyway, things need to be done... AND FAST... the situation needs to be rectified. Racism will always be there, but what we can do is cut down on it significantly. Racist Neanderthals need to be stopped in their tracks.

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