Terry - The End of the Affair

John Terry was this afternoon found guilty of the FA charge of  "using abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour towards Ferdinand and which included a reference to colour and/or race contrary to FA Rule E3[2]" by the Independent Regulatory Commission appointed by the FA. He was banned for 4 games and fined £220,000. The fine amounts to little more than a week's wages and is a drop in the ocean. Most people are aware of the facts and few will not already have a fairly entrenched view of the Chelsea defender. He has been stalked by controversy for a number of years. The verdict was no surprise. Indeed even before the hearing began on Monday, Terry 'retired' from the England team seemingly in protest at the charge being pursued by the FA. For their part, I cannot see that the FA had any alternative but to bring the charge and seek an adjudication from an independent tribunal.
Nonetheless I have previously questioned the wisdom of bringing criminal charges in respect of this matter http://gibbsbarrister.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/terry-v-ferdinand-house-in-order.html. The rationale for charging Terry with a criminal offence, but not Luis Suarez who was arguably guilty of more serious misconduct, appears to be that in the Terry case there was a complaint to the Police. It was in fact from an off duty Police officer who witnessed the visual events on You Tube. In my view this is a nonsensical distinction. I would advocate that as regards football, the Police and the CPS reach an agreement with the FA as to how these matters are to be dealt with in  future. In my view they should dealt with within the game by the FA and via an IRC.
Terry was dealt with more leniently than Suarez http://gibbsbarrister.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/suarez-end-of-saga.html. The rationale for this decision, with which I have no difficulty, is that Suarez was alleged to have repeated the offending racist words on a number of occasions over a period of time whereas Terry had used the offending and offensive phrase on just a single occasion. Suarez was banned for 8 games but fined significantly less. The IRC got it about right.
Should John Terry appeal to the FA Appeal Board. He has the right to do so, but I suspect that he will not. The Appeal Board could increase the sentence. It is highly unlikely that they would reverse the verdict.

Terry v Ferdinand

In any event John Terry cannot win. Even if some technicality could be found; lawyers are no doubt beavering away at this very moment, the court of public opinion has already decided. Terry should take his punishment with dignity and get on with his life, maybe even withdraw slightly from the public eye. After all Terry has already been cleared of being a racist. This was effectively established at the criminal trial and the FA have never sought to argue otherwise. He was indisputably provoked by the puerile conduct of Anton Ferdinand, who in any event claims that he did not even hear the offending words. Why is Ferdinand acting the victim? For my part Ferdinand should have been charged by the FA for his part in the affair. Patrice Evra should also have been charged by the FA for his part in the Suarez affair. It is time that this kind of juvenile, but nonetheless appalling abuse, was rooted out of the game.
John Terry could now man up and accept the verdict. The FA could then step up and get a real grip on the game and initiate a Respect Campaign with real vigour and real teeth. As part of that campaign they could address the cheating curse of diving as well. At the very least retrospective bans for blatant cheating would be a good starting point, but I digress.