KICK IT OUT warned today that unless referees do their job when players are racially abused, those on the field will have no choice but to “take matters in their own hands.”

Following the abuse a handful of England players recieved in Montenegro on Monday night, there have been countless calls from players, managers and those working behind the scenes of football for the country to be punished severely.

Ahead of this weekend’s round of fixtures, a number of Premier League managers said that they would have no problem if their players took industrial action and left the field of play.

A referee can abandon a game as part of a “three-step procedure” that gives them the power to stop, suspend and call off fixtures if players are racially abused.

However, no referee has done so which has led to talk of action.

Napoli manager Carlo Ancelotti said he would not hesitate to take his players off after defender Kalidou Koulibaly was racially abused against Inter Milan last year and Kick It Out’s head of development Troy Townsend said earlier in the week that “we will get to a stage where players will take the matter into their own hands and managers will do what is right for those players at that moment in time and consider the fact that maybe it’s not worth it just for three points.”

Speaking after this morning’s press conferences, Kick It Out told the Star that referees must protect players from “discriminatory abuse.”

“Players want to have faith in a system that they will be protected from discriminatory abuse by the match officials — but it has so far let them down,” said the anti-racism organisation.

“It is a simple call; follow the three-step protocol put in place by Uefa and Fifa or we can see a time when players will take matters into their own hands. 

“We would always encourage any player who hears discriminatory chanting at a professional football game to report it to the officials but that only works if the FA, Uefa and Fifa enforces their own rules.”

Cardiff boss Neil Warnock said that punishments have to be more severe and that the current ones are nothing more than “a fine or a slap on the wrist.”

He said: “A manager’s got to take a team off or ban a team from the tournament, probably immediately, as well if that’s the case.

“The deterrent has got to be far worse than it is. I would take a team off if that’s what happened, the referee was informed and didn’t do anything about it.”

Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi was targeted on Monday night and his manager Maurizio Sarri said he hadn’t had a chance to speak to him at the moment but added that football needs a rule that enables a match to be stopped if players are racially abused.

“No, not for the moment,” when asked if he had spoken to the youngster, “and I don’t like to speak to him about this problem because, unfortunately, I am not able to solve it. 

“In every country there are some stupid people, I think. So it’s a big problem. I think that we need to do something different. Probably it’s right to stop the match for 10 minutes at the first situation.

“We need a rule, I think. A rule for the Premier League, but for all the championships across football. A rule that can permit us to stop the match.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was honest and said that he could not fully appreciate what black players have to go through but admits strong action has to be taken.

“It’s very difficult for me to really feel the situation of Raheem [Sterling] or [Danny] Rose or other players, of our players who face something like that, because I never had a situation like that.

“Whatever I could do, I would do. We have to stop games, we have to do everything.

“I understand that [England manager] Gareth [Southgate] didn’t do it and didn’t say: ‘Come on, off the pitch,’ but we have to make clear that’s not allowed and that’s not possible.”