RACISM has raised its ugly head again in soccer. A few morons here and in Spain have put the game back in the dock and marred the good work of the Kick Racism Out Of Football campaign.

Despite Millwall's efforts to banish the problems, the South East London club have become the first to be charged by the Football Association over their fans' alleged racist behaviour.   

Millwall dispute the charge that Liverpool's Djimi Traore was racially abused by their supporters during a home game on October 26. We sent football fan RAYMOND ENISUOH, sports editor of New Nation - a paper aimed at the black community - to Mill-wall's New Den to judge the club's efforts to stamp out racism.

HOW bad is the situation at Millwall?

The club's chairman, Theo Paphitis, has vehemently defended his fans' behaviour and claimed that the allegations are ridiculous.

He said: "God knows what the FA are up to. We are still waiting for them to send us their evidence.

"I just find the whole thing staggering. The charges are completely ridiculous and we'll see what evidence they have to back it up."

But when I attended Millwall's fiery home match against Brighton on Saturday on behalf of The Sun, I found a different story.

Even as I got off the Tube at Surrey Quays, an elderly fan warned me against taking a popular short cut to the New Den stadium through the local estate "for my own safety."

I took the long way around to the ground arriving about 45 minutes before kick-off.

After buying my ticket with no hassle, I walked through the turnstiles and took my unreserved seat at the CBL lower block and waited patiently for the three o'clock kick off.

Struggling to keep warm in the freezing temperature, I noticed that although incoming Millwall fans had no problem sitting around me, no one actually sat directly next to me, leaving me on a row by myself.

I spent the remaining minutes until kick-off   reading   a   newspaper    and the    only friendly smiles came from a couple of kids. 

There was only one other black fan nearby although three of the stewards facing the crowd were black. Two more were from ethnic minorities.

The match kicked off with all the usual fanfare. Millwall out sang the small section of visiting fans but there was nothing really offensive at first apart from the occasional swear words.

Former Lions manager Mark McGhee, now in charge of Brighton, came in for a lot of personal abuse from the home fans but their attentions were soon directed elsewhere. 

A miskick from Millwall's black player Barry Hayles was met with some disturbing jeers. "You f****** animal!" shouted someone to the top left of me.

Just minutes later I could I distinctly hear monkey-grunting noises on the stand above me. The mood was beginning to grow ugly.   

As the first half drew to a close, the temperature rose. I could hardly believe my ears as I heard staccato chants that took a few moments to register. 

"Sieg heil. Sieg heil." (German for "hail victory") was being chanted by some fans and it was increasing in volume. 

I even spotted some figures, thankfully far away, throwing, Nazi salutes. 

A fan behind me, with his family in tow, embarrassingly avoided eye contact.

"Bloody racists," he said to his wife and children, making sure that I could hear.

As sports editor of New Nation, I have covered my share of football matches at Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, Crystal Palace and elsewhere. But I have never known anything as sinister as the chants coming from the small section above me.

After the half-time interval, things got even worse. One black steward had a number of missiles thrown in his direction. But after making several complaints, he obviously decided to just ignore the cans and plastic bottles that were being caught in safety netting in front of him.

The chants from the home crowd were now mostly of the familiar:

"The referee's a w*****" nature. But when a black player went down injured the down injured the "Sieg heil" chants started again and my mood turned sour.

A few fans nearby, noticing my discomfort, laughed. But on the whole, the majority just ignored it.

Directly in front of me were two official placards that read: "Lions Against Racism - Kick It Out" and: "The Lions Have Pride Not Prejudice."

But these words appeared to be lost on the ignorant minority of fans, mainly on the stand above me, who routinely jeered black players from both sides. They only seemed pleased with anything black when Millwall's Paul Ifill scored in the 78th minute.

The football on display on this windy afternoon was exciting. But there was a vicious under­current that became more prominent in the second half. And as hard as I tried, I couldn't feel a part of the victory celebra­tions going on all around me as Millwall cruised to a 2-0 win. 

Sat in a row all by myself, I felt alone but grateful that I had used my better judgment and not got a ticket in the upper stand. After the final whistle, the Photographer    who accompanied me said he'd seen the same section on the stand above me unfurl a racist banner, and   I made my way out as quickly as I could. 

Outside the stadium there was heavy police presence.

I had intended to go for a drink nearby to test the atmosphere in the pub afterwards. But after what I had just experi­enced I decided to give it a miss. 

"No one likes us. We don't care," is the Millwall fans' anthem.

Maybe after the FA finally takes action against their minority of hardcore racist fans, they can start singing a new tune.