THE "friendly" (we use the word advisedly) between England and Spain tonight has been switched from Madrid to Seville, in the hope that this may deter the presence of the "Ultras Sur".

This is the despicable right-wing group which orchestrated racist chants and monkey noises at English players Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ashley Cole in the Bernabeu in November 2004. England are believed to have refused to return, hence Seville.

Given that the Ultras' website (more than one million hits) speaks about travelling thousands of kilometres to support their team without the security of knowing whether they'll all return home, a mere 300-mile journey is unlikely to deter. Samuel Eto'o, the Cameroon internationalist, threatened to walk off in Zaragoza when subjected to monkey noises and gestures. Frank Rijkaard, the Barcelona coach, and players, persuaded him to stay.

England captain John Terry would support a decision to lead his men off if there is a repetition tonight.

No level of racism is acceptable, in sport or in society, but it appears endemic in Spanish sport culture. Which is why tonight's proceedings will be watched closely. Spain will be on trial as potential hosts of the 2018 World Cup and of the 2016 Olympic Games. The timing could not be worse. They are due to submit key documents to the Olympic movement tomorrow.

The stain on Spain is mainly on their national game. But Lewis Hamilton was the target last year when practising on Catalunya's Montmelo circuit. F1 fans blacked their faces and wore T-shirts and carried banners proclaiming them to be "Hamilton Family". That's a step beyond just supporting Fernando Alonso.

The Spanish were ultra defensive. The national newspaper, El Pais, quoted Madrid sociology Professor Juan Diez-Nicolas: "Spain is not racist, I support all the studies."

He was clearly prepared to overlook an episode during Euro 2004 when national football team manager Luis Aragones referred to Thierry Henry as a "black shit". You'd have thought the significance might not escape a sociology prof.

It almost certainly set the tone for the Bernabeu incident with Cole and Wright-Phillips. Aragones said it was a motivational speech to Henry's Arsenal colleague, Jose Antonio Reyes. "Tell that negro de mierda that you are much better than him," he said.

The Spanish federation was fined 100,000 Swiss francs, and Aragones 3000. But even that managerial slap on the wrist was later overturned.

Contrast that with UK football pundit Ron Atkinson, who lost his TV job and newspaper column after he called defender Marcel Desailly a "fucking lazy, thick nigger".

Since then, Spain has enjoyed the spectacle of their Olympic basketball team posing before Beijing with their fingers pulling the corners of their eyes in a slit-eyes pose. They were obliged to apologise.

Yet there is little support for those who do take a stand. Last month a Spanish referee reported Real's Ultras for "extremist or radical symbolism". Their chants referred to: "the gas chamber, death to Osasuna, and loyalty to fascism".

Despite having already been fined $9780 for insulting black players and making Nazi salutes when they met Leverkusen in 2004, the Spanish federation fined Real just $3000. The ref was given a one-month suspension for having twice booked Juanfran Torres, the Osasuna striker, for diving.

Yet professor Diez-Nicolas claims the incidence of racism in Spain is lower than in the UK, France or Germany. Is he right? British society, from top to bottom, is far from immune from racism. We have much to be ashamed of.

There's no escaping the fact that the sectarian intolerance which divides Scottish society, and the West of Scotland in particular, is rooted in anti-Irish racism. The image of bananas being thrown at Mark Walters and Paul Elliott remains vivid and shames both sides of the Old Firm divide.

Sport reflects what is deemed acceptable in society, and can be a potent tool in stamping it out. Witness South Africa, where over-turning apartheid owes much to their exclusion from world sport.

Predictable pleas of zero prejudice' were made on behalf of the Prince of Wales after revelations that he and players at Cirencester polo club refer to one member as Sooty'. This just days after it was revealed that Prince Harry had referred to a fellow Sandhurst trainee as a Paki'. It was passed off as barracks banter. As was the use of raghead' in reference to the Taliban.

It's an old family trait. Harry's grandpa remarked of the Chinese: "slitty eyes", and once inquired of a Scots driving instructor how he kept, "the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?" The royal household's pejorative language sets a national tone, and perhaps even helps explain the number of votes cast for the British National Party.

Carol "gollywogs" Thatcher and Jeremy "one-eyed idiot" Clarkson are more dangerous than they know. They risk creating a climate of acceptability with their excesses.

Spain, with no real history of immigration until Franco's demise, has since had a huge influx. Britain's immigration history and ethnic diversity is far greater. Yet the xenophobia feeding Spanish workers is the same as that which caused British workers to strike recently.

There's little to choose between the nations. For both, sport plays a key role in upholding human decency.