IT'S NOT BLACK AND WHITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just how did we get here? Last time I looked, we were well ensconced in a 21st century where all creeds and colours mixed together without rancour or recrimination.

In Britain, most teams have a large contingent of black players and here, it's becoming increasingly normal for league of Ireland teams to have at least one or two. Go down the age groups at junior level and you see certain teams where more than half of the team is comprised of black players.

It's no surprise given the increasingly multicultural nature of our society and, by and large, we have embraced it.  However, every now and again, a player's colour becomes an issue when it is invoked in vain.

On two occasions in the last few seasons, players in the league of Ireland have been accused of making racist remarks.  And, of course, across the water, we now have two serious allegations made against two of the world's most famous players, John Terry and Luis Suarez.

What we have seen with the players here, and will become clear in England, is that this issue is delicate, complicated and very difficult to prove.

The two cases in Ireland involved Jason McGuinness (then playing with Bohemians) who was alleged to have made a racist remark to Romuald Boco, then playing with Sligo and a spat between Chris Turner and Eamon Zayed in which the former was accused of making comments relating to the Libyan international's race.

In the McGuinness case, the player very honestly conceded that a comment was made which was unacceptable and which he regretted.  As a result, he was subjected to the mandatory minimum five match ban which follows from this.  He voluntarily engaged in service to the community and became involved in the PFAI Show Racism the Red Card" campaign.  In fact, for a short period last year, he and Boco were at the same club together and relations between them appeared well and truly mended.

The Turner case, however, is an example of how difficult these cases can be.  Turner denied making comments of a racist nature while Zayed was adamant that he had.  In the end, it appears that it could not be proven that such comments were made, presumably due to lack of independent evidence, and he was found to merely have made "offensive" comments but without any racist element.  This attracted a three match ban.

The reality is that the only two people who know what was said were the two players.  And this is where this whole issue becomes clouded in controversy and innuendo.

The two English cases are interesting for the same reason in that both players completely deny making the comments.  It would appear that, again, there are no independent witnesses but a key difference here is video evidence.  At premier league grounds, there are so many cameras that every nuance and gesture tends to be picked up.  It has been suggested that no video evidence of the words alleged to have been uttered by Suarez "at least ten times" exists but on the other hand, not only is there a video of John Terry making a comment to Anton Ferdinand but is available for all to view on YouTube!

Now I am not an accomplished lip reader so I don't know whether this video proves the allegation or not and only time will tell whether it does but it goes to prove how difficult this issue is without either independent evidence or the player admitting the offence.

The real question though is why this incredibly divisive problem is raising its ugly head now and what can we do about it.  Never has more of an effort been made by players organizations, football federations and different players to stamp racism out of the game. Yet, the harder we try, the more it won't go away.

What is even more incomprehensible is that, whatever any of these players actually said, you may be sure none of them are actually racist within the meaning that most of us associate with the word. All have black team mates and friends who would be shocked to think they have racist tendencies and I would think simply don't believe they are.  We have even seen following the shocking remarks that quite rightly ended the television career of Ron Atkinson, that many of his former black players were very quick to defend him.

So why does it happen? The heat and passion of the game is usually the answer given.  Arsene Wenger, somewhat surprisingly, cited this as a mitigating circumstance last week when asked about the situation. And maybe he is right.  That doesn't excuse it by any means but maybe it provides some form of explanation.

The case has been made that all sorts of names and comments are made during a game and some are far worse than the alleged racist remarks.  Indeed, Wenger himself has been the subject of many vile comments by fans.

There are differences, however.  First, we cannot control what fans say, short of banning them from the ground. If a player or other manager was to make such disgusting comments to Wenger, they would swiftly investigated.  Secondly, players are role models.  Fans react to players and how they behave. The alleged behaviour of Chelsea fans on Tuesday night are good example of how an incident involving a player, even if untrue, can escalate tensions between fans.

Finally, though, and most importantly, history plays a huge role in differentiating vulgar and racist abuse.  The past contains too many examples of slavery, outrageous discrimination and partition for us to excuse such behaviour by referring to the cauldron of passion in the heat of the match.

The message has to be that yes, we are all big boys and comments will be made but all players have to remember that they have a responsibility to society and simply to remove a player's colour from their thought processes.

The fight must go on and maybe if a high profile player is found guilty, then it will be the impetus that the game needs to stamp it out completely.  You can expect a very hefty ban if one or both of Terry or Suarez is proved to have said what was alleged.

Equally, players are entitled to their good name if nothing is proven.  That is the point of evidence. It's either proven or it's not. If not, then the player is innocent. Simple as that.  No whispering, no counter allegations. Not guilty equals innocent in this issue.  Sometimes, there is smoke without fire.

The aim must be educate players that racist comments are unacceptable and cannot be excused. Otherwise, it won't be long before the horrible stench of apartheid, partition and racial stereotyping will creep into our nostrils. And it's a smell that lingers and ultimately pervades.  We just can't go back there.

Stuart Gilhooly is the solicitor for the PFAI. He has recently changed his twitter username to @PFAISolicitor and may be followed on www.twitter.com/PFAISolicitor. He has recently been shortlisted for the 2nd consecutive year as journalist of the year at the Magazine Ireland awards.