England fans have been reported to Fifa for allegedly singing racist songs about Rio and Anton Ferdinand during a match against San Marino.
Football anti-racism organisation Fare contacted the sport’s governing body amid reports a number of supporters joined in the singing of a song that suggested the brothers should be burned on a bonfire.
It has been suggested by Fare that the song had “subtle” racist overtones.
Rio Ferdinand had been vilified by fans after pulling out of the England squad for the match because it did not fit in with his “intricate” training programme, then travelling to Qatar to commentate on England’s 8-0 victory.
Piara Powar, the executive director of Fare, said: “Although we did not have observers at the match we have pulled together evidence sent to us including media comment and have passed that on to Fifa.
“I think that it’s one of those things that is very subtle.
“We would say racism and other forms of discrimination is not always banana throwing and monkey chants.
“It can be very subtle, and the people collating the reports believed it is strong enough to send on to Fifa.
“From the reports we have seen I personally think there was an undercurrent of race there, and other people have thought that it has been imbued with racist overtones.
“Whether Fifa think that is strong enough to take action is another question entirely and we accept that it is certainly an unusual report.”
Fare has also reported racist or xenophobic incidents at Croatia v Serbia and Poland v Ukraine matches.
A Football Association spokesman said the organisation had received no official notification of any complaint.
