LONDON (AFP) - The Football Association has written to UEFA and FIFA to complain about racist abuse suffered by England's black players in an under-21 international against Spain in Madrid on Tuesday night.
Strikers Carlton Cole and Darren Bent were subjected to monkey chants during the first half and Chelsea defender Glen Johnson received the same treatment after coming on as a second half substitute.
"This was abuse of a clearly racist nature targetted at all the black players on the pitch and it was fairly sustained throughout the match," an FA spokesman said Wednesday.
"It was reported to us not only by the team but also by a number of independent witnesses," he added.
The FA has written to both UEFA and FIFA to express its concern about the incidents.
"This was a match under FIFA's jurisdiction and UEFA has been leading the fight against racism in European football, so we felt it appropriate that both bodies were informed," the spokesman said.
The English governing body would not comment publicly on what action it felt would be appropriate but UEFA has in the past imposed heavy fines on national associations whose fans dish out racist abuse to players.
The FA itself received the heaviest ever racism-linked UEFA fine -- 150,000 Swiss francs -- in May 2003 as a result of the barracking of Turkey's players during a Euro 2004 qualifier at Sunderland in northeast England.
The same campaign saw Slovakia fined 60,000 Swiss francs for the abuse of black players Emile Heskey and Ashley Cole when England played in Bratislava.
The Spanish fans' actions came amidst continuing controversy over allegedly racist remarks made by national coach Luis Aragones about Arsenal's black French striker Thierry Henry.
Aragones was caught on camera in October describing Henry as a "black sh*t" in a training ground exchange with the striker's Arsenal team-mate Jose Antonio Reyes.
English reporters in Madrid to cover Wednesday's friendly between Spain and England confronted the 66-year-old about his remarks on the eve of the match, prompting a furious response from the veteran coach.
"I have a lot of black friends who explained to me that the English were after them in the colonies," Aragones was wildy quoted as saying by English newspapers.
The issue has soured the build-up to Wednesday's friendly in which England captain David Beckham and Michael Owen will represent their country at the Bernabeu stadium of their club, Real Madrid.
Further bad blood has been caused following the revelation that Madrid's bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games will be advertised on pitch-side hoardings during the game. London is one of Madrid's rivals to host the Games.
11/17/2004 - 17:01 GMT - AFP