A ROW has broken out over a complaint about an alleged racist remark against former Leicester City footballer Trevor Benjamin.

The incident, which allegedly occurred when the 32- year-old ex-Jamaican international was player-manager for Morpeth Town last year, was said to have happened in a Northern League match against Darlington Railway Athletic on September 25, last year.

The Northern Echo understands a player from the Darlington RA side was found guilty at a hearing conducted by Durham County Football Association of making the remark and was fined £50 and handed a four-match ban.

Mr Benjamin was not told the outcome of the case for more than a year and found out the result when the national Football Association stepped in to tell him after an article was printed in a national newspaper.

But Durham FA said last night it was under no obligation to communicate to Mr Benjamin the outcome of the complaint, and it was not asked for the information by anyone until this week.

Campaign charity Show Racism the Red Card last night criticised the Durham FA, saying it had a “moral duty” to tell Mr Benjamin of the outcome of the case, and this would be a matter of procedure if a similar incident had happened in any other workplace.

Ged Grebby, the charity’s chief executive, said: “If it was any other workplace, the employers would have an obligation to tell the person who has made the complaint the outcome of the case.

“They (Durham FA) have a duty to inform him.

“They have a moral obligation to someone who has been a victim of abuse.”

But John Topping, secretary of Durham FA, told The Northern Echo that the only people normally told the outcome of a hearing was the player the allegation was against and his club.

He said: “If a case gets reported, it is dealt with through FA procedures. We haven’t had a request from anyone (for details of the outcome) until the beginning of this week.

“The person who rang this week was asked to send an email (with their request).

“Under data protection, we are not allowed to give out any names. No one’s emailed me.

We told him early this week to send an email.

“The punishment which was given was within guidelines of the FA.”

A spokesman from the national FA said: “We contacted Trevor Benjamin as soon as we were informed about the case and informed him of the result.

“We apologised that it had taken so long for him to find out the outcome. He was grateful to us for getting in touch.”

Northumberland FA, Morpeth Town FC and Darlington RA were contacted by The Northern Echo and declined to comment.

Mr Benjamin also declined to comment.