English FA to investigate racism charges

The English FA has yet to establish whether England fans sang a racist song aimed at brothers Rio and Anton Ferdinand during the World Cup qualifier against San Marino, the organisation said in a statement.

Manchester United defender Rio said he was shocked by the media reports concerning last Friday's 8-0 World Cup qualifying victory in San Marino. Anton, who has never been capped, is on loan from Queens Park Rangers to Turkish club Bursaspor.

Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) contacted world soccer's ruling body FIFA about the complaints and the FA is awaiting official notification of the incident which could lead to England being forced to play behind closed doors. "While we have no reason to dispute the media reports which are without doubt made for the right reasons of fighting racism, at this time we have not found any recorded evidence of the specific discriminatory chanting referring to Rio and Anton Ferdinand and a vile 'bonfire' song," said Club England managing director Adrian Bevington on Friday.

"We will of course continue to review all of our recorded footage. We recognise the importance of FARE's responsibility to report any incidents to FIFA. "We will liaise with FIFA and work with them to assist any investigation. Should evidence of any racial chanting be found we would expect action to be taken against individuals," added Bevington in the FA statement.

The FA said it would terminate the England membership of any guilty fans and would expect banning orders to be issued by the courts as a minimum penalty. "We do not want supporters who chant vile or racist abuse following the England team," added the statement.

The FA pointed out that "in addition to the officially ticketed fans in San Marino there was also a large number of non-members who did not receive tickets through the FA".