Dyer's racism warning

By Matthew Jones
October 6 2002

Thierry Henry, Marcus Bent and Emile Heskey have all been subject to racist chants recently, and Newcastle's midfielder Kieron Dyer is sick of it. Although he hasnt been subject to any abuse yet, he has told the FA that unless things change, players will start walking off the pitch.

Newcastle midfielder Kieron Dyer has warned that players will start walking off the pitch unless Uefa act decisively to stamp out racism.

Arsenal striker Thierry Henry and Ipswich's Marcus Bent have both been subjected to racist chants already this season during their side's European travels, while Liverpool's Emile Heskey has also suffered similar abuse in the past. Look at the likes of Ronaldinho. World Class players, why should they be abused?

Uefa meets this week to discuss the problem of racial abuse at European matches, but England international Dyer has warned: "If it is not cut out of football it is going to get to the stage where some player walks off the pitch and refuses to play.

"Maybe it will come to that because there is only so much you can take before football goes out of the window. Maybe a manager pulls his whole team off the park or a player refuses to play on. It is going to get to a time when players just walk off."

Dyer himself says he has not been subjected to any racist chants himself, but is nonetheless keen to see European football's governing body cut it out from the game.

He added on BBC Radio 5 Live: "I'm the type of person who would be more determined to go out there and ram the words back down their throats and prove these people wrong. But I think anyone who is found guilty of racial abuse should get a life ban from football and be banned worldwide. A few supporters getting worldwide bans would hopefully persuade other supporters to take note of it and keep their mouths shut."