The racist abuse that Cameroun's record-breaking striker, Samuel Eto'o Fils has suffered in several Primera División stadiums in Spain is well documented, but his international team-mate, Idriss Carlos Kameni, the goalkeeper of city rivals Espanyol, has arguably been worse, but hasn't had the same high profile. Kameni has endured monkey-chanting and banana-throwing from the notorious ultras of Atlético de Madrid – Frente Atlético – in the Madrid club's Vicente Calderón Stadium. In November 2005 Espanyol's Brasilian midfielder Fredson and Kameni were racially abused there. The previous season Kameni received similar treatment that resulted in a paltry fine of just €600, which unsurprisingly had little effect on the racists. That fine was announced in April 2005 after five-hundred members of the Frente Atlético, hurled not only racist abuse at Kameni, but also bananas. It was the third racist incident that had occurred that season at the Vicente Calderón – the previous opponents were Real Madrid and Sevilla. Atlético received the same meagre fine for those incidents –

the only punishment available at the time. Clearly, Atlético had a problem with racist fans and the club helped local police investigate the incident. Video-footage was examined and Atlético announced that any supporters who were found to be involved in the abuse would have their membership revoked and could be prosecuted as well, but none appear to have been punished and the following season it happened again. Atlético established a foundation that works with the community on various initiatives, including the black community, but the problem persisted. They complained that they had tried to fight racism, but didn't see what more they could do.

Atlético received a heavier fine – about €6000 – for the abuse of Kameni and Fredson in November 2005, which coincided with the beginning of a greater determination throughout the football world to confront racism. While Eto'o has suffered racist abuse on many occasions, he has never had to suffer the indignity of being racially abused by supporters of his club Barcelona. Kameni has not only been racially abused on his travels, but even so-called supporters of Espanyol have monkey-chanted him on several occasions and pelted him with bananas. He decided that enough was enough and demanded that Espanyol deal with the problem. “It's incredible that they jeer you in your own stadium,” Kameni told a Spanish newspaper at the time. “It is understandable that fans complain when team doesn't play well, but they can't do these racist acts again and again. I've had enough.”

We have highlighted the efforts of clubs such as Villarreal to tackle racism, – a story that has been systematically ignored by other media – despite the Yellow Submarines, as they are affectionately known, not having a problem with racism. We could not find a single incident occurring in the Madrigal Stadium before or after they introduced their innovative zero-tolerance approach to racism. Clearly, they are doing something right and should be credited for it. We showed the Villarreal policy to Felix Ettien when he was still at Levante. “This is an important policy,” he said. “I support it.” He called for more clubs to adopt that approach to tackling racism in Spain, but other clubs that have had problems have adopted policies to confront racism. Espanyol took Kameni's complaints very seriously and began an investigation of their own so called fans. Their ultras, Brigadas Blanquiazulas, are among the most unpleasant racists one could have the misfortune to meet. I witnessed them in action during the Barcelona derby in 2003 – racism in Spanish football was not a hot topic in British media then – and saw Patrick Kluivert's every touch greeted not only with a cacophony of monkey-chanting, but also with those virulent racists mimicking monkeys through hate-twisted faces. They are uncompromising racists, so it came as little surprise to discover that mistakes made by their black players result in the same treatment. It almost resulted in Kameni leaving Espanyol, but to its credit the club was not prepared to turn a blind eye before Sports Secretary Jaime Lissavetzky decided to get tough on the ultras that he blamed for many of the problems in Spanish football. It remains unclear if the investigation identified and punished any of the perpetrators, but a month later Espanyol played Barcelona and Kameni was racially abused again. Espanyol identified two of the perpetrators and suspended them from membership of the club and issued the following statement. “Espanyol has always stood against violence and xenophobic behaviour and for some time has rejected any attitude that is contrary to sporting behaviour and respect towards others,” said a statement in January 2006.

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We were fortunate enough to secure an exclusive interview with Espanyol's first choice goalkeeper, so what does the player who many – including this correspondent – believe was unfortunate not to be included in the Team of the Tournament at this year's African Cup of Nations, think about racism in Spanish football now and what are his hopes for his club? “I don't think we've seen much of it at the Cup of Nations because we are all Africans,” says Kameni, “but in other championships it seems pretty logical to penalise them for yelling these types of racial insults.” The African Cup of Nations provided a haven from racist abuse for him in 2006, as he went to Egypt with Cameroun just as his club got tough with the racists who had been abusing him, so what about now? Eto'o will not allow his family to go to football matches in Spain and given his experiences in the past Kameni could be forgiven for taking a similarly tough stance, so do they come to see him play for Espanyol at home often? “Yes they do,” he says, so do they have any problem in the ground? “Nope, no problems.”

He is an outspoken critic of racism in football, but he is also generous in his assessment of the efforts of Spanish football to confront and overcome racism in the sport. “I used to receive that [racist abuse] a lot,” says Kameni, “but I can see the improvement already for us. We're more at ease nowadays.” He is prepared to give credit to both Espanyol and the Real Federación Española de Fútbol – the sport's governing body in Spain – for their efforts in tackling racism in football. “I feel that they have been very effective in tackling this problem for quite a while and it has improved a lot,” he says. “That's some very good news for us. I think they've changed a lot. They've made a lot of changes and for the time being it's all been stopped.”

Nevertheless, he supports FIFA's amendment to Article 55 of its Disciplinary Code, including relegation for repeat offenders. “It's very good,” Kameni says of the tough sanctions for racist conduct favoured by FIFA. “If this happens during a game, the team should be made to pay for it no matter what. It's like punching someone in the face and telling them to stop this now. If something happens, the team must be relegated.” So how did Kameni cope with all the abuse he received including from people who were supposed to be supporters of his own team? “A lot of people outside of the football community called me and my family with encouragement,” says Kameni who was genuinely touched by the support that he received during those trying times, but is there more that the RFEF should be doing to confront racism? Not according to Kameni. “As we've said before, if something happens, the team must be relegated,” he says, but he believes that his complaints have been listened to and that racism in Spanish football stadiums is largely a thing of the past now, so what about his personal ambitions?

Kameni believes that an African team can win the World Cup as early as 2010 and that team should be Cameroun, so what about his own plans for the rest of his career and his club? “Obviously I would like to see our country's team win the African Cup of Nations and I would like to finish the Spanish league with our team among those qualifying for the Champion's League,” he says. “Right now we are battling for a spot in next season's Champions League, because I think it would be very difficult to win the league outright, so for now we are concentrating on being part of the Champion's League next season.” Espanyol didn't come close to qualifying for Europe last season, finishing in twelfth place, just six points ahead of Real Saragossa, which was the last club relegated to the Segunda División. With eleven matches of the current season played, they occupy sixteenth place, trailing bitter rivals Barcelona by as many points, but how does Kameni see the rest of his career panning out? “I haven't really thought about it and I'm sure time will tell,” he says. “We'll just wait and see.”