A national anti-racism organisation has called for a summit meeting to tackle the grievances of players who boycotted the Kick It Out T-shirt campaign.

Show Racism the Red Card says it understands why the players opted not to show their support for the campaign.

Rio Ferdinand and Jason Roberts refused to wear the shirts publicising Kick It Out’s awareness drive at the weekend.

The players were apparently unhappy at Kick It Out’s lack of response over recent high-profile racial abuse cases.

A statement from Show Racism the Red Card  said: “We fully understand the anger of the Ferdinand family and Jason Roberts in relation to the FA handling of the John Terry case. Both Rio and Jason are long-standing patrons of our campaign and are recognised in our Hall of Fame for their work.

“The issue of not wearing the Kick It Out [KIO] shirts at the weekend highlights the displeasure of certain players in relation to the footballing authorities’ handling of the incidents of racism in the game.

“We call on the players involved to now sit down with us, KIO and the PFA to draw up a plan of action to present to the footballing authorities and government.”

Former Fulham and West Ham striker Leroy Rosenior, who is an ambassador for Show Racism the Red Card, said the decision of some players not to wear the T-shirts was wrong and called on them to do more to help stamp out racism.

“I found it a little silly from the players,” he said. “Players need to give up their time and energy to move this thing forward.”

Kick It Out’s annual fortnight of anti-racism action started on Thursday and runs until 29 October.

Premier League players traditionally wear T-shirts during this time as a show of support for the campaign group and its message.

But several high-profile footballers, including Ferdinand and his brother, Anton, who plays for QPR, chose not to wear the T-shirts at the weekend.

Their actions followed the announcement from Reading striker Jason Roberts that he did not intend to wear a shirt before his side’s game with Liverpool because he felt that Kick It Out was not being “strong enough”.

Recent cases involving Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and Chelsea captain John Terry, who was banned for four matches for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand in a game in October 2011, have highlighted the problem of racism in football.

In September 2012, Chelsea captain Terry was fined £220,000 for racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.

In December 2011, Liverpool’s Suarez was banned for eight matches and given a £40,000 fine for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.

Rosenior, who has also managed at Torquay and Brentford, said he understood the motivation for the protest but felt players were going about it the wrong way.

“I understand where Rio and Anton are coming from after what their families have been through, but I thought it wasn’t constructive in terms of moving the debate forward,” he added.

“We need the players to do more. It hasn’t been top of the FA agenda for a long, long time. They have got better but they are not doing enough. But we need the players to be unified and to work with organisations to do better.”

Rosenior also pointed out that Kick It Out cannot do more than it is already doing.

“They haven’t got the authority, they haven’t got the manpower and they certainly haven’t got the funds, so they need players like Jason Roberts to get behind it,” he said.

Former England star John Barnes believes football can only eradicate racism once the problem is removed from society.

“You can’t target racism in football as long as it exists in society,” he told BBC Sport.

“We’re trying to do it the wrong way round.

“A lot can be done but all we can do in football is target and tackle the symptom, and getting rid of racism – you have to target the cause.”

Barnes has sympathy for the stand that was made by Roberts but believes Kick It Out is facing a difficult task.

He added: “Jason has to do what he thinks is right and maybe he thinks it will take something like this for more strong action to be taken.

“I have a lot of empathy but also with ‘Kick it out’ too. We still have a long way to go.”

Lord Ouseley, chairman of the Kick It Out group, said he understood the frustrations of players but urged them to speak out if they encountered racism in the game.

“The issue is that the T-shirts have become the story whereas the actual grievances of black players, both current and former, have not come out in the open,” he told BBC Radio 5 live.

“We need to be talking about what their legitimate grievances are and how they can be tackled and resolved.

“The black players who have expressed themselves by saying they are not going to wear the T-shirt are doing so because they genuinely believe there are grievances that have not been addressed.

“Those grievances can only be addressed if we confront them, not by gestures of not wearing a T-shirt, but I understand why people don’t do that.”

For more on this story go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20028316