Seventy-three instances of discriminatory behaviour occurred during grassroots football matches over the last 12 months, contributing to an overall increase in incidents within the sport.

Reports gathered by anti-discrimination body Kick It Out revealed that while the frequency of incidents dipped marginally by two per cent during grassroots games, 402 incidents across professional and amateur football – as well as social media – represented a 2.5 per cent year-on-year increase.

However, the year-on-year picture only tells part of the story, with an astonishing increase of 422 per cent in incidents of this type compared with 2012/13, where 77 instances were recorded.

Episodes recorded during grassroots matches were heavily weighted towards racial abuse (89 per cent), while four per cent were abused as a result of their faith and gender respectively, while a further three per cent endured slurs about their sexual orientation.

The rise of social media has been a significant catalyst in the increase of abuse, accounting for the lion’s share of incidents (194). This represented an 18 per cent increase in 2014/15.

Kick It Out chair Lord Herman Ouseley said that in an attempt to eradicate discriminatory behaviour the organisation was planning to “intensify” it education work in football, “with a particular emphasis on football at grassroots”.

“Education is one of the essential elements in tackling ignorance, bigotry and intolerance,” he added. “Bringing people of all backgrounds together to play and participate in football activities provides the ideal environment to stimulate learning with and from each other about each other.”

In comparison, the Football Association’s (FA) discriminatory statistics from 2015/16 showed a decrease of six cases to 902 incidents, although the figure represents a 36 per cent increase on the number of incidents recorded over 2013/14.