London, Jun 9 (IANS): English footballing bodies are not performing to their optimum when it comes to the fight against racism, feels Troy Townsend, head of development at Kick It Out, football's equality and inclusion campaign in England.

"None of us are performing well if there are incidents still happening," he told Sky Sports' The Football Show.

"We are very quick to challenge the incidents out in Bulgaria, incidents in Montenegro when it affects our national players. We are damning, and we want the harshest possible punishment on the associations and perpetrators.

"When it comes back into our own countries, we are not dealing with it in the manner we stressed it should be dealt with abroad. We are all underperforming."

Protests against racism across the world have intensified in the last few days which began following George Floyd's death at the hands of a Minneapolis police personnel.

Floyd, aged 46, died last month shortly after Derek Chauvin, a police officer, held him down with a knee on his neck though he repeatedly pleaded, "I can't breathe," and "please, I can't breathe".

Footballers have been displaying messages as seen in the German Bundesliga where several players called for justice for George Floyd during matches.

FIFA has called on leagues to use "common sense" when deciding whether to discipline footballers for displaying such messages.