KICK IT OUT has slammed grassroots football authorities for punishing the victims of racial abuse after a number of clubs were fined for standing up to abusers.

The unsettling rise in racial abuse of black football players across the British football pyramids and Europe has once again left lovers of the sport asking what is the best way to eradicate the problem.

Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling, who has been abused a number of times this season alone, said on Monday night that he would not walk off the pitch if he and his teammates were racially abused, adding that “to win the game would hurt [the abusers] even more. They’re only trying to get you down.”