It is a beautiful bit, Chris Rock on the OJ Simpson trial. ‘Black people too happy,’ he says. ‘White people too mad. I haven’t seen that many mad white people since they cancelled MASH.’

English football may recognise itself in that sentiment. Everybody is too mad about race these days; even the white guys.
Not that the issue should be brushed over; but when racist abuse of black players on social media is actually rising, it may be time to look at the hammer being used to crack a few nuts.

John Terry’s trial for a racially aggravated public order offence against Anton Ferdinand sums up our confusion. It is widely presumed that, if found guilty, Terry’s professional life will effectively be over.

He has already lost the captaincy of his country, but his place in the England team, his position as captain at Chelsea, any future hopes of managing the club, all would be placed in jeopardy. It would be hard to imagine Terry pursuing a high-profile career in football, certainly for a good few years, with the stigma attached to his name. And we understand this.

Anxious wait: John Terry heads to court in July

The maximum penalty for his offence, however, is a £2,500 fine. So something is wrong. When the punishment and the consequences are so completely out of whack, the process must be flawed. Either a financial penalty is too weak or the ruination of a life too great. Both circumstances cannot be correct.

The resolution, as ever, is probably somewhere in the middle.

Racism could easily carry a brief custodial sentence, but in that time there should be a programme of education, one with contributions from the victims of racism, so that the offender could return to the community having grown, or learned, and would not be presumed to be the same person that stood in court. There has to be hope of rehabilitation if racism is not to be a crime that affords no escape. This is where we are now.

First, nobody would say sorry over Luis Suarez’s insult to Patrice Evra, then apologies poured from on high. The New
England end of the Anfield operation appear to have woken up to the fresh wave of toxic effluent about to wash on to their shore and then Suarez, his manager Kenny Dalglish and the Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre all expressed contrition for Saturday’s disgrace.

We know Liverpool’s denial played a part in creating the Suarez monster, but the FA had a role, too. It is a giant hole in their process that a player found guilty of racist behaviour is not made to address his conduct in a constructive way, as happens when a player is found guilty of substance abuse.

There should be counselling. Not in a touchy-feely way, but in a way that makes the perpetrator face up to the realities of race, and the harmful spill from his actions.

If Suarez had attended sessions with race relations experts, particularly former footballers, he would not have been allowed to continue seeing himself as the injured party - which was clearly the case prior to Saturday’s match at Old Trafford.

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