As everyone knows, he's been cleared of a racially aggravated Public Order offence against the Queens Park Rangers star Anton Ferdinand, last week at Westminster Magistrates Court.
Under no circumstances can it be deemed as acceptable, to use the words, “f****** black c***” or to call another footballer, a “f****** k***head” regardless of their race.
All stewards at various football clubs, who don’t get even a third of the salary the players at these football clubs get - whether it be Premier or Third division - have worked long and hard to follow the law and changes in society, to deal with both racism and other offensive language.
For instance, if anybody was to now throw bananas on the pitch, or make monkey chants when a black or mixed-race player gets the ball, they will be removed from the premises.
The police will also be notified as who he - or she - is, regardless of their age, as when a person enters a football club's territory, they also agree to obey to that club's rules and regulations.
Nevertheless two wrongs don’t make a right – whatever the situation, it is wrong for anyone else who’s not directly involved to make judgments about Mr Terry’s affair with his former team-mate’s ex-girlfriend.
Take a leaf out of the newspaper that broke this story in the first place.
When The Sun managed to prevent Mr Terry from using the European Union Human Rights Act and was victorious in printing his name and further details of the affair, it was this newspaper’s legal team who gave their views and opinions on the judge ruling in their favour.
Even now, I remember Mr Justice Tugendhat stating in the High Court, two years ago in January:
"The law is here to protect people, not sponsorship deals.”
Both Anton Ferdinand and John Terry met later that same day in the Chelsea changing room at Loftus Road (QPR’s home turf) and shook hands, claiming what had happened earlier was ‘handbags’ and ‘on-pitch banter’. But what happened afterwards showed just how much society has changed as those on-pitch 35 seconds of madness was clearly acted on by an off-duty police officer (was he a QPR fan?) who did report it to the relevant authorities.
It’s not surprising Mr Terry isn’t out of the woods yet, as the chief magistrate, Mr Howard Riddle stated: “Mr Terry’s explanation is unlikely…it is not the most obvious response…I found Anton Ferdinand a believable witness on the central issue…Ashley Cole’s evidence was far from compelling.”
Don’t forget, Mr Terry now faces another charge, on the same issue, by the Football Association (FA).
Mr Riddle, the chief magistrate originally dealing with the case, stated that although the prosecution had failed to make its case against Terry beyond reasonable doubt, noted that FA tribunals have a far lower burden of proof, based on the balance of probabilities.
At the same time, I feel for Mr Ashley Cole, a man who had to decide on two important issues: to stand up for what’s right regarding his own health and safety or stand by his principles.
Don’t forget, he is the one who has to train and play alongside John Terry - a man who has immense support from fans and others at Chelsea. After the way things ended for him at Arsenal, it’s not as if Mr A Cole has the option of going back to them!
It’s ironic that the boat Mr Terry, his wife Toni and her parents are on is called Aaliyah, after the beautiful black singer (who also had Native American heritage) who tragically died on 25th August 2001.
Retired top-flight player and former Professional Footballers Association (PFA) chairman Garth Crooks summed it up the best, by saying: “For John Terry, this is only half-time. It’s not over.”
Considering Mr Terry has paid more than £250,000.00 in legal cost, perhaps it’s not a complete let off, as having to cough up such an eye-watering amount must have hurt him.
At this moment, it may seem a small price for him to pay but I assure you, Mr Terry won't be a football player forever!
To find out more about Aaliyah, click here.
To know more about the PFA, click here.
Light, Love and Peace
Andria
X
Oh yes, not forgetting, to find out some more about me, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment