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19th November 2006

SFA plans measures to tackle on-field racism

Scottish Football Association chiefs have admitted that, following a Scotland on Sunday investigation, plans are afoot for new measures to deal with claims of on-field racist and sectarian abuse.

SFA chief executive David Taylor said the changes should be in place by January.

The admission comes in the wake of criticism by this newspaper over the SFA's handling of Spartans player Dan Gerrard's complaint that he was called a "black bastard" by Whitehill Welfare's Wayne McIntosh.

Taylor's unexpected response comes just months after the Spartans accused the SFA of sweeping racism under the carpet after they postponed a hearing of the case and then passed a verdict of not proven.

"This is not the way these cases should be handled," Taylor said last night. "It is wrong, in my view. We are going to review it and I am going to review it personally. The committee has to be persuaded and agree in future that they will act differently. That would mean in this type of case, even if there are postponements, even if there are delays, we need to get the parties to be cross-examined."

Taylor said he planned to put forward the proposals at the next disciplinary meeting on December 13.

"Over the next six weeks I will also be writing to all clubs, both to make them aware that racism and sectarian language is not acceptable on a football field and also to inform them of our procedural review, which will be a two-stage process," he said.

Gerrard responded to the news by saying: "I am glad that it has now been established that the SFA's disciplinary procedures are faulty. But it doesn't do anything for my case and on reflection even the procedures that were in place should have been equipped to deal with what happened."

Source: The Scotland on Sunday