Michel Platini has sensationally stated that players at Euro 2012 may be booked for reacting or protesting to racist abuse.

With the tournament set to kick off on Friday in Ukraine and Poland, there are fears that the eastern European countries may not be the ideal venue for the competition and that racist incidents may occur from a section of supporters.

A number of England's coloured players' families have decided not to travel to support the team due to the fear, and Mario Balotelli has stated that he would walk off the pitch if he is subject to abuse.

Despite this, the Uefa president has stated that players risk discipline should they ark up over potentially controversial incidents.

"It's a yellow card," Platini is quoted as saying by The Guardian.

"We'd certainly support the referee if he decided to stop the game. It's not a player, Mr Balotelli, who's in charge of refereeing. It's the referee who takes these decisions.

So, the referee has been given advice and he can stop the game if there are problems. We will stop the game if there are problems because I think racism is the worst of this," he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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