Racism could be eradicated from football if the authorities cared enough, Queens Park Rangers' director of football Les Ferdinand tells AFP. "It's a societal problem and you'll never eradicate it from society, but we can eradicate it from football if we want to," he asserts. The 54-year-old was one of the most feared marksmen in his days at QPR, Newcastle and Tottenham Hotspur -- and endured years of racial abuse from supporters. Ferdinand says he got so fed up he stopped addressing the issue for a long time simply because "that's all we seem to do, talk about it," with nothing being done. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES