JT: Legend or Racist?

John Terry – the inevitable fall-guy of the race issue with QPR’s Anton Ferdinand – has always declared his innocence, even claimed he is the victim in this rigmarole.

Eleven months on, the events of October 23, 2011 are still crystal clear. Terry admitted to using the words “f***** black c***”, while referring to Ferdinand, even though he claims he did not use them as an insult. In July this year, the Chelsea skipper was found ‘not guilty’ by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Unfortunately for Terry, Lady Luck didn’t favor him a second time around. Despite being cleared of any wrongdoing in a court of law, an independent inquiry held by the English Football Association found him guilty following a four-day hearing.

The regulatory panel fined Terry £220,000 (the highest ever awarded for any offence) and dished out a four-game ban. That’s one more than what you get for a two footed lunge. One more than what you get for taking someone out and denying them a clear goal-scoring opportunity. Simply put, that’s one more than a straight red card.

But if you really want to put things into perspective, that is exactly half of Liverpool’s Luis Suarez eight-game ban. He was convicted of the same offence towards Manchester United’s Patrice Evra. According to a 115-page report released by the regulatory panel (which is still due in Terry’s case) they were charged with the breach of the FA’s Rule E3 (2) which states:

“Rule E3, with the sub-heading “General Behaviour”, provides as follows:

“(1) A Participant shall at all times act in the best interests of the game and shall not act in any manner which is improper or brings the game into disrepute or use any one, or a combination of, violent conduct, serious foul play, threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting words or behaviour.

“(2) In the event of any breach of Rule E3 (1) including a reference to any one or more of a person’s ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality, faith, gender, sexual orientation or disability (an “aggravating factor”), a Regulatory Commission shall consider the imposition of an increased sanction.”

This begs the question: if Suarez and Terry were charged for the exact same offence, why such varied bans? Joey Barton asked his 1.7m plus followers on Twitter the exact same question. Barton, on loan to Marseille, from QPR is serving out his 12-game ban for a violent charge for lashing out at Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez in the final game of last season.

“What an absolute farce. Twelve games for violent conduct and only four for that. [The] FA should be embarrassed. #Shambles,” Barton tweeted.

In Suarez’s case, he was accused of using the word “negro” seven times over. Does that make him more of a racist that Terry? Is that why Terry was given a ban of fewer games but a harsher fine? A fine – that is probably two week’s wages; one if you’re Wayne Rooney (who served a two-game ban for swearing into a camera).

John Terry’s career has always been shrouded in controversy; his reputation diminishing. Allegations of an alleged affair with his then team-mate Wayne Bridge’s girlfriend saw him stripped of his England captaincy (which he reclaimed a year later) to Rio Ferdinand. Terry never saw reason for an independent hearing. Infuriated, he decided it’d be best to jump off the plank rather than be pushed off it. A day prior to the hearing, he announced his international retirement declaring that the FA had made his position as an international player ‘untenable’.

The list of repercussions left behind is ever mounting. Fabio Capello’s infamous resignation after Terry was stripped of his captaincy for the second time obviously tops that list. And now that Terry has left a gaping hole at the back, Capello’s successor, Roy Hodgson, has a key decision to make. Whether or not to recall Rio Ferdinand, who he had decided to leave out of his Euros squad for ‘footballing reasons’.

For whatever my opinion is worth, I fail to understand how the English FA works.

Racist or not, fine or ban, John Terry is no victim. The real victim of all of this is football. Racism is a serious issue and should have no part to play in our daily lives, let alone football.

There is a banner at every home game at Stamford Bridge that reads, ‘JT – Captain, Leader, Legend.’ Don’t be surprised if you see one at away games that adds the ‘R’ word to it; the one that has been used extensively by the media. It’s bound to happen sooner or later.