FARE (Football Against Racism in Europe) network executive director Piara Power cannot understand why recent sanctions against Premier League players have differed so much.
In the wake of the five-match ban and £80,000 fine issued to West Bromwich Albion's French striker Nicolas Anelka for performing a supposed anti-Semitic gesture called the 'quenelle', Powar believes the Football Association have bveen inconsistent with their findings in recent times.
He referred to the eight-match ban received by Liverpool's Luis Suarez for an apparent racist remark to Manchester United's Patrice Evra in 2011 and the four-game sanction issued to Chelsea's John Terry for his comments to then-QPR defender Anton Ferdinand in 2012.
"I don't want to get involved in whether five games is enough [for Anelka], whether it should be seven or eight," Powar told Perform.
"What I would say on that is that this is the third case the FA have dealt with regarding a player, and all the sanctions have been very different, so there is an issue regarding consistency that the FA need to look at.
"Why does Luis Suarez get so many games, John Terry so few and Anelka is pitched in the middle?
"We look for the FA to be very clear about the sanctions that apply for certain actions in and around football. I think they need to be very clear about what those sanctions are and be very clear how they're going to take the action that they should take.
"The FA are far more fit for purpose than they ever were, but there still remain gaps in the way in which we're dealing with this issue.
"It seems that we stumble from one issue to another, the lessons are learned and then when we face the next situation, we find the lessons haven't been learned."
