Jason Roberts believes that Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and Chelsea defender John Terry were lucky not to be sacked by their clubs after being found guilty of racial abuse.

The Reading striker has called for stricter sanctions to be put in place after a difficult year in which a number of high profile incidents have occurred.

Jason Roberts
Roberts refuses to wear the Kick it Out t-shirt [Reuters]

Roberts was one of a number of players who refused to wear a Kick It Out t-shirt last weekend as he believes that the PFA are not doing enough to help stamp out racism from football.

Both Suarez and Terry were found guilty of racial abuse by independent panels and were subsequently banned by the FA, the Liverpool forward for eight games, while Chelsea's captain received a four match ban.

However, Roberts is surprised that there is not a ruling in place that means that any form of racial abuse would lead to the individual being sacked.

"It is indicative of the whole thing that something isn't already in place so it is a sackable offence," Roberts is quoted as saying in The Mirror. "That is something the majority of people would agree with and be surprised it is not in there already.

"It shows we are being reactive and not pro-active. It is not just a Premier League issue, or a Terry or Suarez issue.

"It goes right and up and down the country through the leagues. You would think that something like that would already be written in. But that is down to the clubs and their own personal take on the situation."

Liverpool and Chelsea cam under pressure to further punish their players, however, both clubs stood by them, with the Blues fining Terry but refusing to strip him of the captaincy.

Roberts was also prepared to praise the reaction of Danny Rose who was subjected to racists chants when playing for the England Under-21 side against Serbia earlier this month.

"The new generation of players as we saw in Serbia are not used to that and are not prepared to accept it. I think that is absolutely right," said Roberts. "I applaud them and now we have to move the discussion on further so we don't have to put up with stuff like that.

"The conversation doesn't stop now and we can't become complacent. Last year was a watershed and now is an opportunity to move forward together.

"Last year shone a light on the racism issue. Things could have been handled better by everybody, but people are now looking at the wide issue not just specific instances.

"You can legislate for true equality throughout the game in employment and on the pitch. These are the wider issues we need to look at.

"We need to act and hopefully that's what we are going to do now. I know we need to do better. When we have implemented these changes, and not just spoken about them, I will back Kick It Out again.

"I feel like I have been speaking for a long time. When we are acting, I will be the first person in my car driving up and down the country to speak to kids again with a Kick It Out T-shirt. I have done it over my career.

"But this is not about listening and talking - it is about action."