FA could boycott Serbia in racism row

The Football Association have raised the prospect of a future boycott of matches in Serbia as a bitter row blew up over the alleged racist treatment of England’s Under-21 side after their win in Belgrade.

The FA’s general secretary Alex Horne urged UEFA to take the strongest action against the Serbian FA and questioned whether England teams would play in the country.

UEFA last night announced charges against both the Serbian FA and the English, for improper conduct of their players, and against the Serbs for “alleged racist chanting” by fans. The cases will be dealt with at a meeting of UEFA’s control and disciplinary Body on November 22.

Danny Rose, the Tottenham defender on loan at Sunderland, claims he was targeted by racist chanting during the match, but the Serbian FA issued a statement “absolutely” denying there was any racism at all and branding Rose’s behaviour “vulgar”.

The FA have sent UEFA a full dossier of evidence, including video footage and a catalogue of incidents which they reported to match officials during and after the match.

Horne said in a statement: “We were shocked and appalled by the disgraceful events that occurred in Serbia last night.

“It is also clear that we must defend Danny Rose, who was sent off due to the frustration of being a target of racial abuse. No football team should be asked to play in any environment where racial abuse, violence and threatening behaviour is prevalent. We must question the validity of sending a team to Serbia in the future.”

Serbia’s FA denied fans were guilty of racism: “Making connection between the seen incident — a fight between members of the two teams — and racism has absolutely no ground and we consider it to be a total malevolence... Danny Rose, behaved in an inappropriate, unsportsmanlike and vulgar manner towards the supporters and for that he was shown a red card.”