WAYNE Thomas has urged football chiefs to introduce stronger sanctions against racism after he was allegedly abused by a spectator during Worcester City’s 1-1 draw at Boston United.

The experienced 36-year-old centre-half said the comment believed to be aimed at him was “unacceptable” and he immediately pointed out the culprit to referee Robert Massey-Ellis.

An investigation has started at Boston into Thomas’ claims after City made an official complaint with joint-manager Carl Heeley describing the alleged incident as “disgraceful”.

Thomas said he spoke to Boston manager Dennis Greene, who told him the club would ban the person for life.

“I was over by the touchline where I was getting a bit of abuse off a couple of the fans but one in particular called me something and I thought to myself there is no place for that in 2016,” Thomas said.

“I did not lose my head and start raging because it is just ignorance at the end of the day.

“I thought to myself you have got four or five black players on your own team and you are saying things like that to me. It is unacceptable in this day and age.”

Heeley said: “Hopefully, there has been an arrest made because there is no place for stupid, immature comments like that in the world, let alone in football.

“It is disgraceful and it is not the first time it has happened (at this ground) so hopefully Boston have identified the culprit and it has been dealt with.”

Thomas, who has played for Stoke City, Burnley and Southampton, revealed he had been subjected to comments many times during his 20-year career.

A number of anti-racism campaigns exist in the sport, including Kick it Out, Show Racism the Red Card and Football Against Racism in Europe.

The defender says the situation is improving but believes the Football Association and UEFA should hand out harsher fines to clubs.

“I have experienced it (racist abuse) all the way through my career,” Thomas said.

“I have played for 20 years now since making my debut aged 16 and I have seen a lot of changes for the good.

“But I also see things that are still taking place. I have experienced it before and I have got friends who have experienced it too.

“Everybody knows it is still going on. But until the leaders in football deal with it properly then it will continue.

“They have got to clamp down on it and affect the clubs directly so they can self-police because until they do that it will always continue.”

In 2013, Italian side Roma received a £42,400 fine after racist chants from their fans halted their match against AC Milan but Thomas said this was “change down the side of a car seat” for clubs of that size.

He added: “It has got to be dealt with at the highest end, which is UEFA and the FA, and until they deal with it in such a way where it is not in the clubs’ interests to have fans who make racial slurs against players then it will always continue because the fans aren’t being punished and the clubs aren’t being punished.”

A spokesman from the FA said: "We are committed to tackling all forms of discrimination and work closely with the leagues across the football pyramid, County FA's and with campaigning groups like Kick It Out in order to do this as effectively as possible.

"We encourage anyone who has witnessed or experienced discrimination to report it through the appropriate channels for cases to be investigated."

Meanwhile, although he admitted the equaliser was lucky, joint-manager Heeley said a draw was the right result as City denied another of the league’s top five sides victory.

Worcester drew 1-1 in the Vanarama National League North encounter at Lincolnshire side Boston.

“We were disappointed with the goal we conceded but in the second half we kept our shape, worked hard, went brave and almost won it at the end,” Heeley said.

“It was a great point for us and it means we have got eight points out of 12 against teams in the play-off positions in the last five weeks.”

Worcester make the long trip to East Anglia to face struggling Lowestoft Town in the league on Tuesday (7.45pm).