Toon Army Should Be Educated?

Anti-racism campaigners believe peer pressure is the best way of stamping out the kind of abuse aimed at Mido, the Middlesbrough forward.

The 24-year-old Egyptian was targeted by Newcastle United supporters with songs referring to his Muslim religion during Sunday's 2-2 Barclays Premier League draw at the Riverside Stadium.

The FA is to seek the observations of both clubs over the matter, but Piara Powar, director of Kick It Out, insists that the fans can help to stamp out racism."Rivalry is healthy," he said. "The process of sledging opposition sides or insulting opposition sides is something that is as old as the game itself. It is part and parcel of most spectator sports.

"But strong rivalries cannot become an excuse for abusive behaviour on the basis of race, religion or even the basis of someone's sexuality. This is where peer pressure is so important. We need to make sure other people feel empowered enough to say, 'I disagree with that' and feel quite able to express their disapproval, as they have done over the abuse of black players.

"We need to reinforce these messages and to make sure we draw the line between acceptable chants and forms of abuse that are acceptable. Most people know where the line is drawn in terms of abuse of black players, most people know where the line is drawn in Glasgow, for example, in terms of religion."

Kick It Out has promised to work with both clubs and the authorities in an effort to deal with the issue.

While huge strides have been made in British football in recent years, campaigners insist that racism remains a problem and draw no distinction between discrimination on the basis of race, religion or anything else.

"Abusing a player because of the colour of his skin is no different to abusing a player of Egyptian background because he is a Muslim, or, because he is from Egypt, associating him with being a terrorist.

"It is about prejudice, about discrimination and the way people live their lives. We have more education now. Black players are as equal as white and the status black players have obtained over the years speaks for itself. In this case, it is the fact that Mido as a Muslim and an Egyptian Muslim has been picked up on. If we had a player who was an Indian Hindu, that would be as bad. It is what people pick out to abuse a player that makes it racism.

"The mistake we would make is not to see this as racism or be surprised by it and allow people to think this is OK territory for them to go to. In that sense, some of the awareness that has been raised by what happened to Mido on Sunday, in a perverse sort of way, has been positive."