Thierry Henry calls for points deduction to punish racism

Feb 12, 2013 10:15:00 PM

The ex-Arsenal and Barcelona forward wants football authorities to take tough action on clubs whose fans racially abuse players after a number of recent incidents

New York Red Bulls forward Thierry Henry has called on football authorities to take a hard line on racism - and has suggested deducting points as a possible punishment.

The ex-Arsenal man thinks that by taking points off a team then the club’s supporters may well stop from repeating the abuse in the future, with it acting a strong deterrent.

He told NBC Sports: “Obviously, I am not in charge of this type of decision. That’s the only way. Because you would find normally that fans do care about that.

“If you do take points away, that can be pretty massive [for teams] that want to win the title. I do think that can be something that can be done.”

When asked if the punishment was fair, he replied: “It’s hard. But if I tell you that if you don’t behave well, your team might lose the game … you might stop.

“I’m not saying you will stop, but you might stop. Because at the end of the day, we are all there for the team, for the club.”

On February 11, Championship side Millwall revealed they plan to take “the strongest possible action” against any fans found guilty of racially abusing players following a Sky Sports News report that revealed racism among their fans across several fixtures.