Late last month, in the 63rd minute of one of the highest profile games on the English soccer calendar, a clash between Chelsea and Tottenham, officials were forced to stop play.

It wasn't because of a yellow card or even a red card. Racism had apparently reared its ugly head once again -- a scourge that's been resurfacing in a number of professional sports in recent years.

If this was the first time the new protocol had been used, it certainly doesn't look like it will be the last. Over the course of the 2018-19 season, which ran from September to July, England's anti-racism and pro-inclusion group for the sport, Kick It Out, released statistics demonstrating that reports of discrimination, on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, religion and race, had increased 32% from the previous season -- from 319 to 422.

Racist incidents constituted 65% of those reports, the data shows.

The problem hasn't just been racist abuse directed at players. Alongside racist incidents, anti-racism charities have long criticized soccer's governing bodies for limp responses to these incidents and weak punishments, paying lip service to problems without showing leadership in stamping them out. Both FIFA, the world's soccer governing body, and UEFA have pushed back on those assertions, blaming the rise of nationalism and reaffirming their own commitments to fighting racism. Read more via ABC