SOCCER LEAGUE OF IRELAND:JASON McGUINNESS is expected to return to the Bohemians squad for this week's league game against Dundalk but the 26-year-old defender faces at least a month on the sidelines when charges that he racially abused Sligo Rovers player Romauld Boco are heard by an FAI disciplinary committee next Wednesday.

In the wake of Friday’s game at Dalymount Park, Bohemians manager Pat Fenlon refused to comment on the punishment he had meted out to the Dubliner, but it is understood that McGuinness, who apologised both to Boco and to Sligo Rovers officials immediately after the game at the Showgrounds on April 18th, was suspended for one week and fined a week’s wages.

The FAI hearing will consider submissions from the players and clubs involved before deciding on what sanctions to impose. The essential facts of the incident do not seem to be disputed, however.

Under the association’s rules there are actually no upper limits to the suspension or fine they can impose but with McGuinness having admitted the offence and expressed his regret, he seems unlikely to be hit with more than the minimum penalty of a five-match ban.

While making it clear yesterday that they did not in any way condone his behaviour, there was some sympathy from club officials for McGuinness whose behaviour is said by those who know him to have been completely out of character. The defender is said to be “mortified” by his actions and there is likely to have been an apology, too, to his team-mates who include former Cameroon international Joseph Ndo.

Nevertheless, club president Robert Dunne said yesterday that Bohemians have “a proud history as a sporting club within its community, and that community is more and more diverse. We won’t tolerate any form of racism within the club and we are disappointed that this recent incident has happened”.

A leading figure in one of the anti-racism campaigns that Bohemians have supported in recent years, Sport Against Racism in Ireland (Sari), yesterday called for McGuinness to make a public apology to Boco in order to make as clear as possible his belief that what he did was wrong.

“There are a number of sanctions that the FAI could impose under Uefa’s 10-point Anti-Racism Plan,” said Frank Buckley.

“But my own preference would be for Jason to meet with Romauld face-to-face and apologise so that it can be reported in the public arena. In that way a clear message could go out that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable in football.

“It would set a precedent,” he adds, “so people might think twice before slagging somebody just because of their skin or cultural background.”

Sari have previously called for initiatives like the Show Racism the Red Card campaign to be backed up with training for those involved in the game and Buckley believes that more needs to be done to counter what he insists is still a growing problem both within sport and society generally.