The English referee was present at the first meeting of UEFA's anti-racism task force and explained there were lengthy discussions on how to eradicate unseemly incidents from the game across the continent.

Under a rule put in place by UEFA the match officials have clear guidelines in how to handle racist incidents; the referee should first stop the match and ask for announcements to be made over the public address system. The second step would be to suspend the match for a given period of time and, finally, abandon it.

Webb revealed that at a discussion during the meeting it was suggested more support around the stadium could be provided to the officials so they are in a better position to make a decision when incidents occur.

"There was a discussion about maybe someone having a specific role of just identifying those types of behaviour," he told Reuters.

"(Someone) who has a good understanding of what constitutes a discriminatory act within the stadium, and can therefore guide the match official.

"It could be something like a venue co-ordinator, someone in the stand, who could take the best position to get a feel for what's going on.

"It could be they have to move around the stadium to get a feel for what's happened, but it would take some of the pressure off the match officials."

Webb knows that it is the responsibility on the match officials to protect the players, but admitted it can be hard for the referee given the level of focus they need to have on the match rather than what is going on in the stands.

"We are very much in the front line, we are the first port of call for the players," he continued. 

"If we become aware of anything from the players or officials which they deem to be racist or discriminatory, then we've got an obligation to respond and referees will do that.

"You (as the referee) are not always aware of what's happening in the stands.

"What we do as match officials is to shut the crowd out really, because we're trying to concentrate on the game itself, we are trying to focus on our job and not get distracted."

Webb has been officiating in the Premier League for a decade and admitted he has never been in a situation where he felt he needed to stop the game but said more may need to be done to improve the officials' awareness.

"Maybe there's an educational requirement needed for referees to make them aware it does exist," he added.
"We need key indications to the officials of what they can do and can't do, and what they need to do should something come to their attention."

"It might be that racial gestures in the crowd are brought to the attention of the referee by the players, but it's possible that we wouldn't identify it when we're concentrating on the job that we're there to do."