THE PROFESSIONAL Footballers’ Association has called for a government inquiry into racism in football to be launched following racist abuse during Tottenham Hotspur’s match against Chelsea on Sunday.

Antonio Rüdiger was targeted by racist abuse from the stands during the game.

Rüdiger reported the incident to the referee and appeared to indicate that he had been subjected to monkey chants.

An announcement made over the PA system relayed to the crowd that “racist behaviour is interfering with the game”, The Guardian reported.

In a series of tweets, the PFA said it was “disgusted and dismayed” by the abuse from the stands towards players and that it was clear that “football players are on the receiving end of the blatant racism that is currently rife in the UK”.

“The PFA calls for a government enquiry into racism and the rise in hate crime within football and immediate and urgent action from an All-Party Group at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to address this urgent issue,” the PFA said in a tweet.

The association said it extends its full support to Rüdiger.

Tottenham has said it will carry out a ‘thorough investigation’ into the incident.

“We are now conducting a thorough investigation which will include liaising with Chelsea and their players for their observations. Any form of racism is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our stadium. We take any such allegations extremely seriously and shall take the strongest possible action against any individual found to be behaving in such a way, including stadium bans,” the club said in a statement.

Following Chelsea’s win, Rüdiger posted a celebratory picture on his Twitter account along with the hashtags #NoToRacism and #PleaseGetSomeBasicEducation.

Spurs manager José Mourinho said he was “disappointed” that racist incidents were still happening.