Former Cobblers skipper Clarke Carlisle has called for Serbia to be banned from competitive competition after England Under-21 players were subjected to racist abuse in the clash in Krusevac on Tuesday night.
Danny Rose was sent off with an ugly brawl breaking out at the final whistle after the left-back reacted angrily to alleged racist abuse from the Serbian crowd.
Nedum Onuoha was also subjected to similar abuse in a clash between the nations in 2007, which saw a £16,000 fine handed to the Serbian FA, and Carlisle has called for a much stronger punishment to be given now.
“You should not have to experience those scenes in this day and age. It was utterly deplorable behaviour,” said Carlisle on BBC Radio Five Live.
“It’s quite farcical. A guy is racially abused and then he gets punished for containing his reaction to that.
“We saw how the whole debacle progressed into punching, kicking... we saw photos of headbutts going on in the staff. But Danny Rose for kicking a ball away ends up getting himself sent off. This is just wrong.
“Uefa need to make a standpoint here and more importantly Fifa, I feel, because it was a Fifa qualification tournament. The message has to come from the top down that this behaviour will not be tolerated.”
PFA chairman Carlisle, who is now playing for York City, went on: “It’s immaterial where it is, who the perpetrators are.
“What’s material is that the governing bodies lay down extremely harsh sanctions so that they deter countries and people from acting in this way.
“You can draw parity with what happened to English football when we were kicked out of Europe for the violence [following the 1985 Heysel disaster] - that instigated a period of self-governance.
“I believe Serbia should be banned because it’s a repeat offence.
“Banning them for a start, from any tournament, would be progress but I think if it’s significant - if it’s a couple of tournaments - then that would cause that nation to address the issue that has deprived them of international competition.”
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