FA looks to players in fight against hooliganism

The Football Association is considering using high-profile England players such as the captain, David Beckham, to urge fans not to repeat the scenes at Sunderland's Stadium of Light last month when trouble outside the ground and two pitch invasions inside marred England's 2-0 victory over Turkey in an important Euro 2004 qualifier.

Paul Barber, the FA's director of marketing and communications, revealed the move is one of the options as they attempt to avoid further problems and more severe sanctions than the fine imposed on the FA by Uefa, European football's ruling body, after the Turkey game.

"It's one of the options," Barber said. "One of the issues, of course, is that we haven't seen the players since that night at Sunderland. They finished the Premiership season, they've had a short break and we get them together again on Sunday for our match in South Africa next week. That's an opportunity for myself and David Davies [the acting FA chief executive] to talk to them and see what help they can provide us with in this campaign."

Barber's comments came as the FA and Northumbria Police announced a joint initiative to identify 29 men who ran on to the pitch after first Darius Vassell and then Beckham, from the penalty spot, scored against Turkey on 2 April.

A total of 120 arrests were made in and around the stadium, but only five for the incursions on to the pitch. Uefa was also concerned by the booing of the Turkish national anthem and racist chanting, and the FA has been told that a repeat will result in a more stringent punishment.

"I certainly think that some of the people that behaved in the way that they did at Sunderland could put us in serious jeopardy of suffering even more severe sanctions from Uefa," Barber added. "At the lower end of the scale, that's greater fines, at the higher end of that scale, it's possibly playing a match behind closed doors. Beyond that, I don't really want to contemplate because I think that would be too serious for the national team and for the country.

"We're exasperated because the vast majority of people that watch England play, both home and away, are there for the football. They enjoy the football, they're peaceful people, they want to have a good time and they want to go home safely. Unfortunately, a minority seem to be hell bent on causing problems."

The authorities are determined to work together to ensure that everything goes smoothly for England's next two home games, a friendly against Serbia & Montenegro at Leicester's Walkers Stadium and the Euro 2004 qualifier against Slovakia at the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough. However, what might be more difficult to control is the practise by some fans of booing and whistling their way through the opposition's national anthem, something which Uefa considers as racist and which is a source of embarrassment – not only to the FA, but to the England coach Sven Goran Eriksson.

"He's equally embarrassed and disappointed," said Barber. "He is, of course, a foreign national himself. The FA and everyone connected with the England team would just like to see respect shown for our visitors in the same way that we expect and do receive respect when we go overseas ourselves."