Soccer: Racist spectators should be publicly shamed, says Blatter

ZURICH - Racist soccer spectators should be identified in the crowd and then shamed in public in the middle of the pitch while the match they have tarnished is suspended, Fifa president Sepp Blatter said today.

In a proposal put forward during a news conference after this year's final two-day executive committee meeting of world soccer's governing body, Blatter also said racist hooligans should be banned for life from attending matches.

He was speaking on the eve of Fifa's disciplinary committee meeting at which the outbursts of racist chanting during last month's friendly international between Spain and England will be considered.

Details of the sanctions to be exercised against the Spanish soccer federation are expected tomorrow (NZ time).

Blatter said it would create a dangerous precedent if the players were encouraged to leave the pitch with the approval of the referee when there were outbursts of racist chanting.

"I cannot say what kind of sanctions we should expect because I do not interfere at all with the disciplinary bodies of FIFA," he said.

"But I believe you could stop the game, identify the people involved in this kind of foul situation and then take them to the middle of the field to be booed by the rest of the spectators.

"I know that in Britain, you have the video cameras at the matches and you could therefore do this. You could identify them and send them into the middle of the field in front of the public."

Blatter said this public humiliation of racist hooligans should be followed by a life ban from all stadiums.

But he added: "We are not a runaway jury here and I can only say that the only people who should stop a game are the referee or the match commissioner."

Blatter's proposal came after he had also expressed serious concerns at the risk of burnout faced by top international players and the over-exposure of soccer with too many games, in general, and too much soccer on television.

He said that Fifa had decided that all major national leagues, including England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany, would have to end their competitions before May 14, in 2006.

He said this would give the top players a chance to rest and recuperate before the World Cup finals in Germany start on June 9.

- REUTERS