While Radovan Karadzic emits his eyebrow-raising evidence at a Hague trial two decades after the mass cruelty inflicted at Sarajevo and Srebrenica — the former Bosnian Serb leader claims the Muslims faked a lot of it — we should keep a sense of proportion about what some Serbian oafs were supposed to have done to the England Under-21 players and staff in Krusevac on Tuesday.
But football can only deal with what is in front of it and there is nothing more important than the eradication of racism. UEFA agrees with that. They demand “zero tolerance against racism, violence and doping” and, while you can read whatever you like into the order, it is not alphabetical.
It is also something the English are good at. Or were until recently. The FA will find it difficult to argue that punishing transgressions with a slap on the wrist is intolerable, because recently an English player found to have uttered a racial insult was suspended for a mere four matches, or only a couple more than he would have got for cynically tugging a goal-bound opponent’s shirt.
There was no suggestion that Stamford Bridge be closed down for rallying around John Terry. Nor is it conceivable, except perhaps from Rio Ferdinand, which Twitter has made more lippy than Marcelo.
So the FA will have to play this more cautiously than the initial reaction of general secretary Alex Horne — righteous indignation, as heard from Luis Suarez supporters after the Terry punishment — portends.
There is a strong case here, supported by evidence that any physical retaliation by members of the England Under-21 party was proportionate, that the older head of chairman David Bernstein must present. Directly to Michel Platini.
If, in the build-up to the FIFA presidential election, Platini wants to look different from the traditional European, now is the time. This is the message.
