Football Association: 'No racist chants from England fans'

By Liam Apicella, Features Editor | 08 April 2013

FA: 'No racist chants from England fans'

The Football Association say that they have found no evidence that England supporters sung racist songs about Rio Ferdinand against San Marino.

The Football Association have told FIFA that there is no evidence that England fans chanted racist songs during their team's recent World Cup qualifier against San Marino.

It had been reported to FIFA that some supporters had sung songs of a racist nature against Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand and his brother Anton, who was involved in a racism case with Chelsea skipper and former England international John Terry last year.

However, having reviewed the claims, the FA have insisted that there is nothing to suggest that the chants were racist.

"We have gone through all of the video evidence that our security team recorded on the evening of the game," the FA's managing director Adrian Bevington told Sky Sports News.

"I do want to make clear that while the journalists who have reported this have done so in good faith, they clearly have heard some chanting of a particular nature, and we're not disputing that.

"But we haven't been able to identify any of that from the recorded evidence that we've gone through."

The initial complaint had been made by European anti-racism body Fare.