IT LOOKS as though the racism, obscenities, and downright inhuman behaviour of some football fans is finally being addressed by the powers that be.

It would seem as though those who run Britain’s national game have decided enough is enough.

And about time, too.

For decades the behaviour of mindless morons at football matches has been dismissed as ‘banter’ between fans.

Really?

Is it banter when opposition supporters make hissing noises at Tottenham’s Jewish fans in a reference to the gas chambers?

Is it banter when fans make monkey gestures at black players in rival teams?

Is it banter when good men like Dave Jones and Arsene Wenger have to endure sickening chants alleging they are paedophiles?

Is it banter when Liverpool fans mock the Munich air disaster, or when Manchester United fans take sick pleasure in the Hillsborough disaster?

Of course it isn’t. And anybody trying to defend such gross behaviour as such is as bad as the protagonists themselves.

Football is riddled with so-called fans who attend matches simply to make the kind of gestures or shout the kind of obscenities they would never dream of repeating in the street.

It has happened for so many years that it has become the norm at every level of football, from the Premier League to the Sunday leagues.

It is a cancer at the heart of the game. Thankfully, decent-minded people appear to have had enough of it.

Those responsible need to be caught, named, shamed and banned from football grounds forever.

It will take a lot of work and a lot of courage from football authorities and the police.

We are not talking about a small minority of football fans. We are talking about tens of thousands of people up and down the country who spit their vile poison every week in the perverse belief that what they are doing somehow helps their team.

The people who will do the most to end such behaviour are the silent majority; the people who sit or stand next to these idiots week in week out but do not have the courage to say anything.

Now is the time for decent fans to stand up for what is right.