John Terry and the racism charge that won’t go away

Football and racism

According to media reports the FA is likely to taker a majority view that John Terry should be stripped of the England captaincy.

England football captain John Terry had his case heard at Westminster Magistrates Court. Mr Terry pleaded not guilty to a charge that he used racist language in a match. He did not attend himself.

Over the last few weeks there has been a number of incidents involving football fans and issues of racism, whether that is the Liverpool fans booing Evra, postings on Twitter in both Newcastle and Scotland or indeed the infamous Suarez case.

But it was several months ago that this run of events commenced when the Chelsea captain was alleged to have made racist comments towards Queens Park Rangers player Anton Ferdinand during a game on 23 October 2011.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Mr Terry, 31, was accused of a racially-aggravated public order offence. He has denied the charge and said he has campaigned against racism.

The decision to charge Mr Terry was taken after police received a complaint from a member of the public after the Premier League match at Loftus Road. The maximum sentence for the offence is a fine of £2,500.

The England manager Fabio Capello has until now maintained the position that Terry, is innocent until proven guilty and that he should be free to select him as his captain until his trial is over.

There is some nervousness among board members as to how Capello will react, with some fearing he will see it as undue interference in team affairs.

But there is now an acceptance among the FA hierarchy that the matter should be taken out of his hands.

The FA has been forced to act after Terry’s case was adjourned until 9 July – a week after the Euro 2012 finals end – ensuring that the affair will dominate the build-up to the championships.

For some time now Bernstein has been growing increasingly concerned at the FA’s position on Terry.

Some board members have lobbied him to take decisive action to ensure the FA is not accused of being weak on racism.

Black players within the England squad have also been putting pressure on the Professional Footballers Association to take a stronger stance on Terry.

This is believed to have also played a part in forcing the FA to show greater leadership on the issue.

The Terry case is significant in many ways – racism is an issue not just for football but for British society. It cannot be ignored or swept away. Equally no one no matter who they are or what role they play in popular society is above the laws of respect, decency and tolerance which are central to our community.

It has also to be said that had such a serious allegation been levelled against many other workers in many other organisations there would be at least a suspension of that workers’ activities until procedures were completed – a suspension with no impugning of guilt or innocence. Why should football or the super rich footballers be any different?

Let us hope football and the FA start to take the issues of racism and homophobia much more seriously than they have hitherto done.

Dr Donald Macaskill

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Source: BBC News