Nyon, SWITZERLAND, October 4 (AP) - European football's governing body will look into charges of racial abuse by fans of Yugoslav team FK Sartid against Ipswich players
Marcus Bent and Finidi George.
Bent scored the deciding goal to clinch a 1-0 victory Thursday that put Ipswich
into the second round of the UEFA Cup 2-1 on aggregate.
Bent said he was the target of "monkey chants" during the match and was spat
upon.
"It was a hostile crowd," Bent said. "There was a lot of racist abuse, a lot of
spitting when you went near the crowd."
UEFA spokesman Mike Lee on Friday said the European body was
investigating the charges. Lee said Ipswich had not made an official complaint
but expected a decision next week.
The English Football Association said it wanted to hold "urgent talks" with
UEFA about racial abuse directed toward players at English clubs.
"We need to step up the way in which we are looking at this issue," said F.A. spokesman David Davies. "It is a worrying trend that it is the English clubs who
seem to be suffering the most. We will sit down with UEFA to find new
initiatives to tackle this problem."
Thursday's incident follows similar abuse aimed at Arsenal's Thierry Henry
during Arsenal's Champions League game last week at Dutch side PSV
Eindhoven. Liverpool's Emile Heskey said he suffered racial abuse in a recent
match in Valencia, Spain.
