The Professional Footballers’ Association has today revealed a six-point plan to tackle racism. The six points are:

  • 1 Speeding up the process of dealing with reported racist abuse with close monitoring of any incidents.
  • 2 Consideration of stiffer penalties for racist abuse and to include an equality awareness programme for culprits and clubs involved.
  • 3 An English form of the ‘Rooney rule’ – introduced by the NFL in America in 2003 – to make sure qualified black coaches are on interview lists for job vacancies.
  • 4 The proportion of black coaches and managers to be monitored and any inequality or progress highlighted.
  • 5 Racial abuse to be considered gross misconduct in player and coach contracts (and therefore potentially a sackable offence).
  • 6 To not to lose sight of other equality issues such as gender, sexual orientation, disability, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and Asians in football.

It’s a good move by the PFA and will hopefully satisfy the Ferdinand brothers, Joleon Lescott, Jason Roberts and other black footballers who have been critical of the actions taken by the football authorities.

Here are the Premier League news headlines today:

One more thing before we go. Why can’t the Premier League be as fun as the Championship? Watch Nottingham Forest’s Billy Sharp take a bite out of a spectator’s hot dog after scoring a goal:

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