Le Roy Fines Over "Racist Slur"

Ghana coach Claude Le Roy was handed a warning and a suspended 5,000-dollar fine on Saturday for an alleged racist slur to an Egyptian match official.

The Confederation of African Football took Le Roy to task over the incident before the African Nations Cup host's final first round tie with Morocco at Accra's Ohene Djan Stadium last Monday.

The French-born coach has been a vociferous critic of the Accra pitch, describing it as no better than "a potato field" after Ghana's tournament curtain-raiser against Guinea.

Before the Morocco game Le Roy complained that the Egyptian match co-ordinator Nosseir Fathy had sided with Henri Michel's team in not allowing the pitch to be watered just before kick-off "because he was a Muslim like them", a CAF statement reported on Saturday.

CAF said its rules stated that "anyone who publicly disparages, discriminates against or denigrates someone in a defamatory manner on account of race, colour, language, religion or ethnic origin, or perpetrates any other racist and/or contemptuous act, will be subject to match suspension for at least five matches at every level".

Le Roy's French-born assistant, Herve Renaud, has also been punished by CAF with a one-match ban for Sunday's quarter-final with Nigeria after he attempted to persuade ground staff to water the pitch against the instructions of match officials.