The FA is determined to tackle the issue of racism at football stadiums

A poll carried out for The Times newspaper has kicked into touch the notion that racism in football is a thing of the past, with the survey of fans showing around 41% of supporters have witnessed racism on the terraces in the past two years.

Only 32% of those questioned in the survey believed racism on the terraces had been "practically eliminated."

The worst offenders were found in Yorkshire with Bradford City, Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United featuring in the poll.

The survey, which the newspaper claims is one of the most rigorous ever conducted, revealed 50% of Yorkshire fans said they had heard or seen racial abuse, with Sheffield Wednesday topping the table with 52%.

The campaign to boot racism out of football is ongoing but the battle certainly has not been won FA spokesman

London club Chelsea were runners-up in the survey with 47% of their fans having witnessed racist behaviour.

A spokesman for the Football Association said it was working hard to drive racism out of the game.

"We know there is an issue with racism and it's one we take very seriously," he said.

Tough action

"The campaign to boot racism out of football is ongoing but the battle certainly has not been won."

He said the FA had taken measures to combat the problem by specially-training stewards to deal with people engaging in racist behaviour."

Alan Roberts, the Operations Manager at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough ground told BBC Radio Sheffield that fans who cause problems will face "tough action."

Doug Smith, the ticketing and Community Services manager at Leeds United told BBC News Online: "We are committed to stamping out racism in the stadium.

"Any calls relating to racist behaviour we investigate fully.

"Fans can now text details of incidents and we successfully banned somebody last season for anti-semitic behaviour."

A spokesman for Bradford City said: "Being in a multi-racial city, it is something we are very aware of and stamp out as early as possible.

"All clubs work hard to stamp out racist behaviour and Bradford go as far and further."