The FA have done sweet FA

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This article has little to do with Liverpool, although with what happened to Luis Suarez last season, I thought some people who read these posts might find it interesting.

So the FA have fined Rio Ferdinand £45,000 for calling Ashley Cole a ‘choc ice’ via Twitter. That’ll teach him a lesson. He’s a multi millionaire – losing around a third of his weekly wage – it hardly puts him on the bread line.

I’m not suggesting for one moment that Rio Ferdinand, a black man, is a racist. Just like I don’t believe that Luis Suarez, the grandson of a black man, is racist. But surely the point in question has to be whether Ferdinand was guilty of using a racist term. And the answer is clearly yes.

The term ‘choc ice’ is extremely racist. It implies that a black person is black only in skin colour but inside they are really white. And it’s meaning is especially dangerous because it allows black people to believe that there is a way of being black that is somehow distinct from being white.

And that’s the problem right there.

If a white footballer had tweeted the same comment it would have been judged in an entirely different manner. Racism will only be taken seriously, when everyone is judged by the same rules.

We see in films, music videos and the like, where black people use the ‘N’ word. Why should it be any more acceptable for a black person to call another black person that word than it is for a white person? Surely it still means the same thing. People, regardless of their skin colour, either have freedom of speech or they don’t. There can’t be one rule for one person and another for someone else.

I can’t help but think the FA are responsible for allowing this whole situation to escalate. They waited, expecting John Terry to be found guilty in a court of law and his fate to be out of their hands. A guilty verdict would have led to him not only losing the England captaincy but also never representing his country again. They would then have found it easy to dish out a similar punishment to the one that was given to Suarez. However, they got their eyes wiped. Not only did Terry’s trial take longer than expected to be heard, which forced England manager Roy Hodgson to choose between him and Ferdinand for the Euro 2012 squad, he also was found not guilty. They have now charged him and I suspect he will also be found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute rather than racially abusing a fellow player. His punishment? Probably a meaningless fine.

Do most people believe John Terry used the term in the manner he claims? I don’t think so. Are most people right? Only he knows. But the FA should have taken decisive action. And they should have done the same now with Rio Ferdinand. Unfortunately they’ve allowed a nasty can of worms to be opened because it looks like black footballers can use certain terms that white players cannot. But the issue goes beyond footballers. This will inevitably trickle outside of the game and onto the playground, with kids copying their heroes. And that is F****** Atrocious.

More Stories Ashley Cole FA Ferdinand John Terry Liverpool Suarez

17 Comments

  1. Your right, but please dont infer that people cannot be racist because they are black or not white, i think you will find the vast majority of racists on this planet are not white.

  2. And the moral of the story is Old Red Nose had Suarez stitched up by his mates or underlings (take your pick) at the FA. And their officials are still sticking it to him. A yellow for putting your arms up. He’ll never win until he gets out of this crap country.

  3. Terry was fined a meager sum by their country law court. Ferdinand fined £45,000 by their country FA. No match ban for both of them. Suarez was fined £45,000 plus eight match ban. Oh Suarez is a foreigner. Jungle justice? No its just a preferential treatment for English players only.

  4. Sorry mate. But obviously you’re white! Racism us ignorance and this is the most ignorant tripe I’ve heard in a long time. Do yourself a favour and stop acting like you have even a modicum of knowledge about the subject! I find it ironic that the foreigner and the British blackman are found guilty of racism by thier white peers and the white Anglo Saxon English captain is found innocent of racism when the evidence against is indisputable and is only asked to answer a petty charge! Now that’s real racism!

  5. See what I mean? Ignorance! Rio i mixed race???
    A racist has no derogatory name for mixed race! A rasist will always call him a black so and so! Rio is a light skinned black man. And yes he can be racist however he can only be racist to a race differing from his own! A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
    Cole is the same race as Ferdinand! How can retweeting that he’s a coconut or he’s a chic ice, bounty or orio cookie be racist?
    Next white people will be telling black people the real ‘N’ word is not racist.

    1. So what your saying is, Rio isnt a black man, hes a light skinned man, but can then you group him as the same race as Cole, who isnt a light skinned man. I think what you will find your doing is giving excuses. In my book Racist stuff should be bad for all. Not its ok if your black. That is massively racist. The problem we have in this country isnt so much racists, as pro racists. Its creates hatred by treating people unequally. By giving advantages to races or anything other than white a better stance, thus creating hatred. When we wake up as truly treat everyone the same and forget skin color thats when we have made a break through.

    2. what the problem is the fa and kick it out make things realy bad because they say things are racist that are not,letting rio off with a fine is wrong suarez case wrong,they are making people get fed up with the whole racist thing, they have made a joke out of it,discrimination and racism are two things that alot of people have suffered from,the people who fight racism will not agree with the things the fa done in both cases and kick it out jumped on the band wagon,kick it out are a disgrace and need to sort themselves out and learn what racism and discrimination is when they read what discrimination and racism is they then need to look in the mirror

    3. what the problem is the fa and kick it out make things realy bad because they say things are racist that are not,letting rio off with a fine is wrong suarez case wrong,they are making people get fed up with the whole racist thing, they have made a joke out of it,discrimination and racism are two things that alot of people have suffered from,the people who fight racism will not agree with the things the fa done in both cases and kick it out jumped on the band wagon,kick it out are a disgrace and need to sort themselves out and learn what racism and discrimination is when they read what discrimination and racism is they then need to look in the mirror and get in the real world

    4. are you saying that a man that is mixed race cant be racist asit doesnt matter what he says because hes got black and white in him so its a free for all.are you having a laugh

  6. SusRed

    I don’t agree with a lot of this article but not do I agree with your comment. Of course Rio was out of order for saying what he did. The derogatory use of the term choc ice is a term that is offensive to both Ashley Cole and White people in general. It is racist. The term (which Rio actually retweeted and “lol’d” at) is something which is used to suggest that being “white” on the inside is not as worthy as someone who is “black”. Why people have to always refer to racial differences is beyond me. We’re all humans. It doesn’t matter hat colour or race.

  7. bro,you cant write all of that.if suarez had a eight match ban against him and there was no COMPLETE proof of it(again i say, COMPLETE) whereas terry had COMPLETE PROOF that he called anton ‘a b*ack dog’.its more than enough of proof to charge terry

  8. Words should only be deemed racist in relation to the context they are used in. I am a white man, I have friends who are of different nationalities, if I have a black friend and I call him a nigger and he calls me white boy, it is simply because we are friends and is used as a term of endearment between two friends, if however we were enemies and used the same terms, we would be using it in different context, and therefore would be racist. Nigger is only a bad word because we have made it into a bad word, it is afterall just a word. Being Australian, I get called Skippy, which depending one the context it is used, can also be deemed as endearing or racist, my parents are English and get called Poms, which again can be endearing or racist.

    1. And here lies the problem. Many young people do not differentiate what is acceptable to a friend is not acceptable to person of the general public. If young people see white, black, Asian, African or any race calling a person of the same race a derogatory term they may see this as acceptable. If we wish to cut racial terms and racism out of sport and society no racial terms can be deemed acceptable , whatever context they are used in.

  9. You’re all idiots arguing about racism, the man is saying, and is right, that here are three footballers who have all done the same thing, JTs was more extreme, but Suarez is the only who has been punished

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