Only 3 years. Ridiculous. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4116882/Race-slur-Man-United-fan-banned.html A MANCHESTER United fan who hurled racist abuse at a black player has been banned from football matches for three years. Howard Hobson, 57, shouted: "You f****** w**! You f****** n*****!" and made monkey noises at Stoke City's Trinidad-born player Kenwyne Jones, witnesses said. Hobson was in the North Stand at Old Trafford for the game against Stoke on January 31. He had sunk four bottles of beer and was reported to stewards who escorted him away when he returned from the half-time interval. JPs at Trafford Magistrates' Court asked him to explain his actions after he pleaded guilty to a single charge of a racially aggravated public order offence. He insisted: "I'm not racist." He also accepted he used the words, "black b******", but said: "I have coloured people in my family and most of my best mates are coloured. I don't know what came over me. I'm deeply sorry." Rachel Goode, defending, said Hobson was "extremely embarrassed" by his behaviour. He cannot enter a football ground in England and Wales for three years and must surrender his passport when England play internationals abroad. Hobson, of Openshaw, Manchester, was also fined £200.
You could maybe understand, after a few drinks, heat of the moment, letting out a "black bastard" comment, but to keep ranting, and making monkey noises and using the big N, sounds pretty racist to me.