HYPERBOLE is as much the currency of modern football as goals. Still, nowhere is the chasm between words and deeds wider than in the Union of European Football Association’s (UEFA) attitude towards racism. To listen to European football’s governing body is to stand in awe of a superhero, working, in its own words, to “banish this evil from football and society”. Michel Platini, its president, once instructed referees to “demonstrate no leniency whatsoever in the face of violent, racist or discriminatory behaviour on the part of players, club officials, technical staff or fans,” going on to tell them to be “as firm as possible. The image of football lies, to a great extent, in your hands.”

Yet to see it in action is to witness a scrawny man on a beach tutting at the beefcake who has kicked sand in his lunch. Earlier this year, after fans of Porto spent a game racially abusing Mario Balotelli, a black striker who plays for Manchester City, UEFA fined the Portuguese club a mere £16,700 ($27,000). Incredibly, it then fined the English side £25,000 for what it apparently saw as the more heinous crime of leaving the dressing room a minute late for the second half. The Russian Football Union, meanwhile, was fined £24,000 after many of its fans directed monkey chants at Theodor Gebre Selassie, a black Czech Republic defender, during this summer’s European Championships. In comparison, during the same competition Nicholas Bendtner, a Danish player, was fined £80,000 for wearing inappropriate underpants.

UEFA has another chance to demonstrate its ambivalence towards racism following the under-21 international between Serbia and England in Krusevac, Serbia earlier this week. England’s black players were subjected to monkey chanting during the match. Footage shows Danny Rose, England’s left back, provoke a furious reaction from Serbian players and fans after he ironically mimicked a monkey to the Serbian fans (pictured above). He had been sent off for kicking the ball away in frustration at the abuse he had received. Mr Rose said that the racist chanting had lasted from the warm up to the final whistle. He also said that coins, stones and seats had been thrown at him.

Serbia has a history of football-related racism. In 2007, at another under-21 match against England, this time in Holland, the Serbian Football Federation was fined £16,500 for the racist chanting of its supporters. Domestic clubs, including Borac Cacak, Rad Belgrade and FK Zeta, have also been cited. Serbia’s football authorities have denied the charge of racism in this case. Instead it has laid the blame at Mr Rose’s boots, calling his behaviour “inappropriate, unsportsmanlike and vulgar”.