The abuse suffered by Danny Rose was not the first time a black England player has suffered at the hands of Serbian fans.

In June 2007, the Under-21s were taking part in the European Championship in the Netherlands when the Queens Park Rangers defender Nedum Onuoha, then at Mancehster City, was subjected to monkey chants in a 2-0 victory over Serbia, an experience he has described as "the toughest 90 minutes of my life".

"Watching Danny Rose being subjected to racism during England Under-21s' win in Serbia on Tuesday night, it was impossible for me not to feel empathy with him as my mind was taken back to the similar treatment I received in 2007, he said yesterday.

"It is an experience that will never leave me, and to this day it is a source of sadness and anger that during an international football match, played in the 21st century, I was the victim of racist chanting from Serbia supporters. It started during the first half of our group match in Nijmegen and got louder and louder, so much so that the PA announcer had to ask the fans to calm down."

Afterwards the FA protested to Uefa, which responded by fining the Serbian FA £16,500 but England were also punished by being fined around £2,000 for the improper conduct of their players. Trouble had broken out as the two sets of players left the pitch, with the English FA later alleging further racist abuse from Serbian players.

For Onuoha, whose mother, aunt and cousin were watching in the stands, it was a horrendous experience. "Footballers are used to getting abuse during a game, it is par for the course, but when that abuse is racist in nature that takes the emotions you feel to a different level," he said. "I became more and more angry against Serbia, but because of the importance of the game – we needed a win to qualify for the next stage – I kept it inside and made sure I focused on doing my job. It was probably the toughest 90 minutes of my life."

"Danny had to do something similar on Tuesday given the abuse he received started in the first-half and carried on throughout. He has admitted since that he began to lose focus around the hour mark and it is credit to him that he carried on playing until the final whistle. The Serbian FA have since accused him of acting in an "inappropriate" manner, but I know Danny; he is a really calm, nice guy and would not have reacted in the way he did unless something serious had happened. And I know for a fact something serious did happen as I texted Jordan Henderson, the England captain, straight after the final whistle and he told me that he couldn't believe what had taken place there."Onuoha, who moved to Queens Park rangers in a £3m deal in the January transfer window, might have been forgiven for thinking that things had moved on since then but admitted to a rude shock on Tuesday night.

"It is a shock that five years after what happened to me, footballers are still being subjected to racism. Given Serbia are involved again it is understandable people are now calling for them to be kicked out of international competition altogether, but I'm really not sure that is the answer.

"Racism is a complex issue that goes beyond football and eliminating a nation from taking part at a World Cup or a European Championship is not suddenly going to cure it of that problem.

"Also, it is unfair to tarnish all the people of a country as racist. I played with Aleksandar Kolarov at Manchester City and he is one of the proudest Serbs you could meet. But he is also one of the fairest and nicest people you could meet and I would never describe him as racist. Why, then, should he suffer for the actions of a minority of his country's supporters?"

Onuoha felt it was important to draw a distinction between different forms of racist behaviour. "There is also the question of what levels of racism you ban a country for. I remember playing for England Under-21s in Montenegro a few years back and while I heard no racism from the home fans, I did, quite unbelievably, from seven or eight armed guards standing inside the tunnel, who made monkey chants when myself and Joe Hart came back inside after our post-match warm down," said Onuoha. "So should Montenegro be banned from international football for that? Or, again, would that be unfair?

"Tackling racism is complex and difficult and while there is no doubt Fifa and Uefa should do be doing more to combat the problem, it is too easy to call for countries to be banned. Having seen what Danny went through against Serbia, and remembering what I suffered against the same opponents, I just feel blessed to live and work in a multicultural and tolerant nation such as England. Not everybody is so lucky."