Dear Mr Roberts,
Thank you for writing to The Football Association.
The FA is in full agreement with you; offensive chanting has no place in football. The FA’s policy is to encourage all clubs to work towards ridding the game of the small minority of supporters who try to ruin the experience of watching a game for the vast majority.
We strongly condemn any form of offensive chanting and works closely with the police, clubs and football partners such as Kick It Out in tackling this problem.
We remain committed to making the game family friendly and call upon clubs and match day police to monitor and deal with these incidents accordingly.
The FA are also aware that Manchester United released their own statement on Friday 4th September, while Sir Alex Ferguson has gone on record in the past to condemn offensive chanting across the game.
We do appreciate all of the feedback we receive from supporters. This feedback is collated and used to build a picture of public opinion and is subsequently fed back internally within the organisation. Please rest assured your comments will form part of this feedback process.
I would like to thank you for taking the time and trouble to contact us.
Kind regards,
Jenny Dainton
Jenny Dainton | The FA Customer Relations Manager
Communications Division
The FA Group
Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London, HA9 0WS
Postal address: Wembley Stadium, PO Box 1966, London, SW1P 9EQ
T +44 (0) 844 980 8200 | F+44 (0) 844 980 0066 |
www.TheFA.com, www.wembleystadium.com
My letter:
Dear Sir/Madam,
It is with great regret that I feel compelled to contact you this evening. Having just watched the Manchester United v Arsenal game, I was appalled by chanting of the Manchester United fans towards the Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger. The chant that Mr. Wenger should sit down because he is a 'paedophille' disgusts me, as I am sure it does any proper football fan. Such behaviour has no place in our game. I would be interested to hear how you plan to tackle this issue, as it is not the first time I have heard this from Old Trafford, nor other grounds around the country where Arsenal may play.
I regard this chanting as appalling as that directed to Carlton Cole during the week, when he was subjected to racist abuse by Milwall fans. It is also as appalling as the comments made by Louis Aragones when head coach of the Spanish national side directed towards Thierry Henry, as those of the Spainish fans against England players in the Bernabeu a few years ago. In these instances, the Football Association has acted to ensure that such behaviour is viewed as unacceptable, for which I commend you. However, I would appreciate being informed as to how you plan to tackle such outrageous behaviour to ensure it does not happen in the future with reference to Mr. Wenger.
In a week where the attention has been focused on Respect, particularly given the incidents at West Ham and the potential Uefa action against Eduardo given his 'deception' of a referee, I would anticipate that the Football Association would wish to act to ensure that people are aware that such chanting as that directed towards Mr. Wenger is not acceptable, and will not be tolerated in our beautiful game.
I look forward to hearing what the Football Assocaition plan to do about this issue, rather than an automated response.
Yours,
Mr Daniel Roberts
At least I had a response, but I don't think they really answered the question. Leaving it up to clubs? Yeah...great idea....
But you're right - they didn't really answer the question as to what they plan to do about it at all. 
And let's be honest, we didn't really expect them to, did we? 
