I LIKE to keep this column relatively light-hearted.

Unfortunately recent, abhorrent events on the continent mean I can't ignore the menace of racism, which seems to be re-emerging on the continent.

It's probably unfashionable to praise the actions of your own country in dealing with problems of racism.

Notwithstanding the fact that there is still racism on the streets and, to a much lesser extent, on the football pitch, the ' Kick Racism Out of Football' campaign appears to have made a real impact.

It also helps that more-or-less every UK club has a smattering of black players on its books - even the most numb-witted of fans must realise that a chant aimed at an opposition player is also audible to the 'hero'.

The 'pioneering' black footballers of the 1970s took the abuse, missiles and whatever else was thrown at them.

They suffered, as pioneers often do, but their football eventually got the bulk of the fans on their side.

But the footballers of today should be protected.

The football pitch is, effectively, their place of work and (under employment legislation) they have every right to be protected from racial abuse in the workplace.

What needs to happen? My guess is that most of the 'supporters' prefer watching football to shouting racist abuse so, given the choice between being in the ground cheering on their team like adults or being barred from the ground, they will choose the former.

The ball should be put into the club's court - ban the racists or play your European games in empty grounds.

The same should go, needless to say, for national associations.

There is no point in making excuses for racism.

I've never been to Bratislava.

Instinctively, I suspect there are few black people there.

But that is an irrelevance, rather than an excuse.

Should the people of countries like Slovakia, the former Yugoslav Republics and, of all places, Holland not know about the dangers of racist politics and policies? Countries where a history of divisiveness and hatred has lead to hundreds of thousands of bloody murders.

In this day and age, when African players are tempted to the icy Ukraine to start up a professional career, where Nigerian-born players pull on the colours of Poland and where in Britain, at last, a number of youngsters from the Asian community are getting their chance as professionals, the final battle to get rid of racism in football is approaching.

Let's hope that this most worthwhile of battles is going to be won on the terraces of Eindhoven and Bratislava as comprehensively as it has at Upton Park and Elland Road.