(London) Rio Ferdinand is frustrated at the lack of progress in identifying the Tottenham fans who hurled racial and homophobic abuse at his former England teammate Sol Campbell.

The chairman of England’s Football Association has urged Tottenham to impose life bans on the fans who hurled racial and homophobic abuse at the former Spurs defender during a Premier League game at Portsmouth last month.

Police are also investigating Portsmouth’s complaint about the incident, but are hampered by the fact that no action was taken during the game and that no culprits were identified.

“The high-tech cameras should be able to pick up the people who are doing that kind of stuff and eject them from the ground,” Ferdinand said. “That is the only way I can see to stop it happening.

“We are talking about a football match. There are young kids present who want to be entertained, not hear someone a couple of rows back slagging players off.”

Campbell has regularly been barracked by Spurs supporters since he quit the club at the end of his contract in 2001 to join fierce north London rival Arsenal on a free transfer.

Ferdinand was also upset that FIFA fined the Croatia Football Federation just 30,000 Swiss francs (C$27,700) last month after fans directed racist chants at England striker Emile Heskey during a World Cup qualifier.

The governing body’s disciplinary committee threatened Croatia with a more severe punishment if it did not control the problem in future, but Ferdinand was adamant that was insufficient.

“The football authorities need to look at themselves,” Ferdinand said. “(FIFA president) Sepp Blatter likes to speak up about things that are good for FIFA’s image. I would love to see them stand up and dish out the right punishments for these incidents.

“They make a lot of comments about what they are going to do but they never back up the words with actions. Croatia were fined a few thousand quid. What good is that going to do? If things like this keep happening, you have to take points off them.”