The club were charged and sanctioned after a homophobic chant was heard from the North Stand against Woking on March 8.

The club strongly condemn the chant and re-iterate our zero tolerance policy on supporters found to have committed offences, home or away – with discriminatory abuse being offensive and potentially a criminal offence.

United chairman David Newton said: "The club have been sanctioned over homophobic chanting that took place at the home fixture against Woking in March. This has resulted in a £700 fine for the club, and we are now subject to an action plan as directed by the FA, to try to prevent such actions in the future.

"We need to say that this arose around the chant of 'get up you puff' – and what may have been deemed 'acceptable' in the past is not acceptable in any way today. We need the help of all supporters to stamp this out.

"We also have dealt with the racial abuse of a player (by an away fan) not long ago. This is simply not acceptable.

"We have a fantastic fanbase which overall represents Boston United in the right way, and are a credit to the club, but there remains a minority that cross the line. We ask all fans to support the club passionately, but please do not cross the line.

"Although we already have robust procedures and systems in place, it is taking many hours for us to work through the requirements of the action plan to ensure full compliance with the FA requirements. This is time that could be used much better on trying to move the club forward. If such issues happen again, the sanctions will be much more severe. The financial sanction was very much at the lower end of the scale due to our good record to date, but it will not be at that level next time.

"Clearly these notes may entice one or two to actually make matters worse, but we ask you to take onboard what has been said, and actually help us stamp it out rather than raise the stakes. We hope we can rely on everyone's co-operation with this, and the overall good reputation of the club can be maintained."

If you hear any chants of this nature (and/or any other discriminatory language) at the Jakemans Community Stadium, please speak to your nearest steward. The club are also in the process of finalising a text reporting system for such offences.