Football: Graham Taylor- Crackdown on Racism

Former England boss Graham Taylor on Sunday called for UEFA to get tough on racial abuse and force national teams to play matches behind closed doors if they step out of line.

England players were again subject to racist taunts during last night's 2-1 victory over Macedonia in Skopje which keeps Sven-Goran Eriksson's side on course to qualify for next summer's European Championships.

But the win was overshadowed by the abuse hurled at players such as Emile Heskey and Sol Campbell by a number of the 18,000-strong crowd, with the flag of St George also burned.

It remains to be seen whether UEFA will take any action, although their attitude in the past has been to fine national associations following such incidents.

Taylor believes that is not good enough. He said: "What does a fine actually mean?

"You have to take strident steps if you are going to stamp it (racism) out. I happen to believe whoever it is, for the next game there should not be anybody there. The game should be played behind closed doors.