Chelsea made a complaint to the FA in October alleging the referee had used inappropriate language, understood to have been interpreted as a racist remark, to their midfielder Mikel John Obi.Although the club did not involve the police, the Society of Black Lawyers made a complaint to the Metropolitan Police based on media reports of the alleged incident. Scotland Yard announced on Tuesday, however, that no action would be taken "because no victims had come forward" - and that has prompted criticism of Chelsea and the FA by the SBL chair, Peter Herbert.
Herbert said in a statement: "It would appear that there is a cosy little agreement between Chelsea FC and the FA not to report these matters to the Metropolitan Police but to have them dealt with solely by the FA."The FA have a dreadful record of indifference on hate crime generally; failing to challenge anti-Semitism at Tottenham Hotspur and at other grounds; eventually finding John Terry made a racist remark but remarkably found him not to be a "racist"; whilst the derisory penalty of a four- or eight-match ban [Luis Su‡rez] is believed to be a suitable punishment for what in any other industry would be summary dismissal for gross misconduct."
