Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand’s decision to protest against the Kick It Out anti-racism campaign has been backed by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA).

Ferdinand, whose brother Anton was racially abused by Chelsea captain John Terry last year, did not wear a Kick It Out campaign t-shirt in the pre-match warm-up before United’s 4-2 win over Stoke on Saturday, despite boss Alex Ferguson saying on Friday that all his players would support the equality group.

Ferguson has hinted he will punish Ferdinand for his actions, describing the incident as “embarrassing” and promising to “deal with it”.

However, several other players around the country during the weekend also snubbed the T-shirt in protest at Kick It Out’s failure to demand harsher punishment for racist incidents.

Reading’s Jason Roberts, Stoke’s Kenwyne Jones and Manchester City’s Joleon Lescott all took part in the protest and PFA chairman Clarke Carlisle promised to keep track of the situation to ensure Ferdinand doesn’t suffer for sticking up for his principles.

“We will definitely monitor the situation very closely and make sure Rio Ferdinand’s rights as a human being, never mind as a footballer, are not undermined in this position,” Carlisle said.

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