( CNN ) Could mobile technology turn the tide in the fight to eliminate racism from football ? Anti-racism organization Kick It Out ( KIO ) says there 's been a 35 % rise in fans reporting abusive behavior committed by other fans -- and that 's largely due to a new phone app . `` The app has had a massive impact , '' KIO media and communications manager Richard Bates told CNN , noting that it accounted for 27 % of all complaints . `` Self-policing is so important when it comes to stamping out racism in football . People are confident that their complaints will be taken seriously . '' The 184 reported incidents recorded during the last five months of 2014 covered racial and religious discrimination , as well as sexual orientation , gender and disability offenses . The increase was measured against the same period the year before . KIO 's mobile phone application , which was released in 2013 , encourages fans to report incidents anonymously by pressing a `` Report It ! '' tab and entering the name of the football ground , positioning of the offender , and incident details . Although contact details of the person reporting the incident are requested , KIO emphasized that the anonymity of the tool is key . Every single objection logged by fans , either on the phone , via email , or on the app , triggers an investigation by the English Football Association ( FA ) . These include 73 incidents on social media ( a 24 % increase ) , which have so far led to 21 instances of the offender being identified , and at times having their accounts deleted . The FA , which released its own witness complaint guidelines in 2013 , encouraged fans to be proactive in flagging up incidents . `` Reporting abuse , whether witnessed or experienced , is an important part of the game 's overall anti-discrimination work , '' said an FA spokesperson . `` There are clear ways for players and fans to do this , and these improved procedures should result in more reports in the future . '' Bates admitted that it takes `` bravery and courage '' for fans to record photographic evidence on their phones , but pointed to the effect British expatriate Paul Nolan has had after he filmed Chelsea fans physically stopping a black man from getting on the Paris metro last month . The amateur video obtained by The Guardian newspaper , and posted on its website , shows the man make multiple attempts to board a train at Richelieu-Drouot station , only to be pushed away each time by a group of passengers . The Chelsea fans can then be heard chanting : `` We 're racist , we 're racist and that 's the way we like it . '' Chelsea were in France to play Paris Saint-Germain in a Champions League first-leg tie - Europe 's premier football tournament -- which finished 1-1 . Five people have been identified and suspended by Chelsea , who have launched an ongoing investigation . Later in February , KIO says it contacted the police over social media footage which showed men , thought to be West Ham fans , singing anti-Semitic songs on a train while traveling to Tottenham Hotspur 's White Hart Lane ground ahead of an English Premier League game . `` Would we know that these Paris and London incidents had happened if they were n't on video ? '' Bates asks , adding that KIO is considering an option to upload video and still images of offenders directly to a complaint log on the app . `` If you have video footage and you can issue that retrospectively , it can make it easier to identify the perpetrators , '' he says . In a report released in 2013 entitled `` English Football 's Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Action Plan '' , the FA explicitly talks about `` raising confidence in the reporting and disciplinary process at grassroots level . '' KIO 's jurisdiction extends to all of English football , including the amateur ranks . It is one of the few independent bodies in world sports which solicits complaints from fans in order to weed out abusive behavior . It also polices the actions of players , which has embroiled the organization in controversy of its own in the past . In 2012 , Rio Ferdinand refused to wear a KIO T-shirt before a match while playing for Manchester United . He was protesting a perceived lack of response by the governing bodies against John Terry after the Chelsea defender was accused of racially abusing his brother , Anton Ferdinand of Queens Park Rangers . Terry was banned for four matches and fined £220,000 by the FA for his actions .
Thirty-five percent increase in abuses reported . All complaints lead to an inquiry by England 's Football Association . - June 22 :