Less than a third of all anti-discrimnatory cases dealt with by County Football Associations (FA) across the UK were proven, according to figures obtained by Asian Image.
Several amateur Asian clubs have called for more action from football’s governing bodies in effectively dealing with in particualr racist abuse at grassroots level.
One club said there was no point in complaining as ‘no action is taken’. Others bemoaned how many Islamophobic comments escaped officials attentions as they did not understand the full connotations of what had actually been said.
And a senior Asian referee admitted some referees may be taking the ‘easy way out’ by choosing not to report abuse they may have heard on the pitch or the sidelines. But he was adamant that  County FA’s have changed their approach and will investigate all forms of abuse.
A total of 587 cases of anti-discrimination were recorded by County FA’s in England of which 189 were proven. For a further 147 there were no further investigations and 54 were not proven.
Despite our requests for individual figures for each of the 51 County FA’s these were not released by the National Football Association.
The FA said it was completing ‘a diversity monitoring exercise’ looking at the make-up of the whole game, including The FA, County FA’s and professional clubs, which is a first for the organisation. The results are due to be available later this year.
Kick It Out, the national body which investigates discrimination in football, revealed earlier in 2014 that there had been a 269% increase in incidents of discrimination reported to the organisation for the 2013/14 season.
The County Football Associations are the local governing bodies of association football in England and the Crown dependencies.
County FAs exist to govern all aspects of football in England. 

The response from the football clubs

Understandably some club managers and secretary’s did not wish to be named.

Yassar Farooq, Coppice United Secretary and player said he didn’t bother reporting any abuse to the local FA as in his opinion ‘nothing gets done’.

He said, “Most players in our team feel the FA will do nothing and they care more about collecting fines then tackling racism and discrimination.

“Any time we have appealed they have stuck with referee decision -  it's a joke. You can't really question the decisions.

“Also some referees treat Asian players differently in terms of the punishment they hand out for exactly same offences committed.”

An Asian referee who did not wish to be named said, “It is very difficult for some referees as they don’t want to be seen to causing problems for some of the more ‘established clubs’.

“If you are a young referee and you hear the odd comment you are unlikely to make a huge issue out of it for fear that next time you won’t get the bigger matches at higher level. Many will pass it off just as banter.

“And if you are an Asian referee then you get accused of siding with the Asian team yourself.”

A manager of a junior’s team told us, “Young teams are taking the brunt of racist abuse these days. Parents of young players can be the worst particularly when they have not played an Asian team before.

“We reported one female parent for calling one of under nines a ‘Paki’ in a match this season. The case is still being investigated.”

One club secretary said, “In the last few years we have people make comments over people’s beards, the length of their shorts and the referee has no idea that it is racist.

“People on the sidelines with make Islamophobic comments and accuse players of beating terrorists etc but it all seems to be ignored by officials.”

What the referees say about racist incidents
Ismael Esat, referees’ secretary for the Blackburn Referees’ Association, manages more than 220 officials aged between 14-21-years-old.
It also has the most Asian referees in any County FA in the UK.
He said all their referees were told to take racist incidents seriously and not to shy away from dealing with them.
He said: “We advise them not to take the easy way out. The easy way out is to say, ‘I didn’t hear it’. 
“They need to be stronger in their convictions.
“Yes, this has been the issue with some referees but I was always of the conviction that you can’t let things like this be ignored.”
He said it was also wrong to suggest that County FAs were not doing enough.  
“Until you complain then nothing will change. To say don’t complain is wrong as then we have no idea what has happened.
“I can categorically say that the County FAs will do something about it and investigate it.”
He spoke of his own experiences at being on the wrong end of racism during his career. 
“When I was refereeing at a semi-professional fixture the crowd were repeatedly shouting ‘Bin Laden’ and I was spat at too.
“This was reported and I was backed up by both my assistants and the club was charged and fined.”
He said Asian referees sometimes find themselves in a no-win situation.
 “I have always tried to be as fair as possible but it doesn’t help when Asian players make comments in another language that you are trying to favour the opposition because you want to keep the white players happy. This is simply not right.”

What the FA say

Danny Lynch is from the FA’s Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Communications Division. 
He was keen to stress the work the FA was actually putting in to make sure discrimination was taken seriously at all levels.
He said: “The FA takes discrimination seriously and values diversity, on a national, regional and local level.
“In relation to work at County FA level, The FA has formed a number of three person ‘disciplinary panels’, whose members have had training to equip them specifically to hear, and preside over, discrimination cases.   
“This has included a National Chairs Panel independently appointed by The FA to adjudicate in all cases and each county has to appoint an independent local football panel as an independent member from the CFA Council to sit on cases.
“We have also employed a number of staff at The FA headquarters at Wembley Stadium, who deal solely with discrimination in the game.
“Communication is also key and full written reasons are compiled for all cases and published appropriately in order to promote transparency in the entire decision-making process. 
“All County FAs across the country either now have or are working towards an Inclusion Advisory Group that advises the county on how to be more inclusive and help it tackle issues of discrimination. 
“In addition, The FA provides resources, training and funding to every County FA, both around football development and inclusion.
“In the wake of the John Terry and Luis Suarez cases of 2011, The FA worked collaboratively with the other bodies in the game to draw up and agree the English Football Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Plan 2014-17. 
“Every organisation has targets within it with fund and resources committed to it.”
He added: “Finally, The FAs commitment to increasing participation from the Asian community at large is such that we have recently held eight community forums in as many weeks spanning some of England’s largest Asian communities, from Luton to Bradford, via Leicester and Sheffield amongst others.
“The events have been delivered with County FAs, professional clubs and local community groups and amateur teams, from east London to west Yorkshire and we hope to feedback on this work in due course.

Kick It Out figures
The statistics, which are compared to complaints filed during the 2012/13 season, relate to incidents within professional and grassroots football, and on social media. 
Kick It Out’s most recent statistics show that racism (66%), faith-based abuse (20.5%) – with antisemitism making up one complaint – and homophobia (8%) were the most common forms of discrimination reported to Kick It Out for the 2013/14 season.
The increase comes after Kick It Out released its mobile app, which contains a reporting function, in July 2013.