John Terry has been handed a 4 game ban by the FA, pending an appeal after the governing body of English football found the former England skipper guilty of racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match between Chelsea and The Hoops at Loftus Road last October. The 31 year old, who recently retired from the international game, citing the FA’s decision to pursue the charges even after he was acquitted of them by the Westminster Magistrate, was not available for comment.
However, it is being believed that Terry will take up the option of filing an appeal to the FA to reconsider the decision. The Chelsea skipper has two weeks after he receives the documents pertaining to the sanction to file an appeal and his ban will be suspended pending the final outcome of the appeal. Terry has also been fined a whopping £ 220,000 by the FA along with the ban. The FA released a brief statement following the hearing and the announcement of the punishment, revealing all the details of the sanction that Terry faces.
The FA, along with UEFA and most of the governing bodies in football all over the world have taken a stand to kick racism out of football and the Respect campaign by the UEFA has been formulated to make the players respect the game, the officials and their fellow pros. But many people think that the FA has been quite lenient with their punishment and many even believe that Terry should have been handed a much stricter punishment.
One of the many footballers who spoke regarding the matter is Joey Barton. The former QPR man, currently playing in France with Marseille took to his Twitter account, where he blasted the FA for such a lenient step. He cited the 12 game that he was handed following and on-field bust up during the match against Manchester City as well as Luis Suarez’s 8 game suspension after he was found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United full back Patrice Evra during a high profile match between Liverpool and United at Anfield.
But Terry has found a lot of support, with former Chelsea and current Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho coming out in defense of his former captain, stating that having known John Terry for so long, he can guarantee that he is not a racist. His club Chelsea has also released a statement where they have promised to extend all the help they can to their disgraced skipper.
All that said and done, it is still not clear if the FA is indeed trying to clean up the game in England, what made them take such a lenient decision and almost let Terry walk out scot free after so much was made of his remarks and many theories have cropped up. Terry will be available for the match against Arsenal on the weekend as he ponders whether to appeal the verdict or accept it and serve the 4 match ban.