Spain’s Anti-violence Commission has demanded tougher punishment for national coach Luis Aragones following the abusive remarks he made about France striker Thierry Henry.

The Spanish Football Federation’s (RFEF) disciplinary committee handed Aragones a €3,000 fine for the comments made last year.

“We do not agree with the (RFEF’s) Disciplinary Committee that the offence is merely one of decorum,” said Anti-violence Commission president Rafael Blanco.

“When we asked the RFEF to open the disciplinary investigation into the behaviour of the national team coach it was because of a matter related to racism and not for a offence against the decorum of the game.

“The decision (to appeal) was made after listening to reports from the legal advisers of the Sports Council and the Interior Ministry and was unanimous,” Blanco said.

“We hope that the Appeals Committee will understand our objections.”

Aragones was overheard telling Spain striker Jose Antonio Reyes that he was better than “that black shit”, referring to the player’s Arsenal colleague Henry, before a World Cup qualifier against Belgium in October.

Aragones apologised, but denied he was being racist. He criticised the decision to fine him, claiming he did nothing wrong.

“I used the expression ‘black shit’ when I way talking to Reyes as a way of saying you are better,” he said.

“It is like a form of motivation. If it had been translated correctly it would have been said that Henry was a phenomenon, but it wasn’t.”