Rio Ferdinand was banned for three matches and fined £25,000 on Wednesday night after failing to respond to an FA charge of misconduct regarding an abusive tweet.
The Queens Park Rangers defender had reacted to online provocation by using the word ‘sket’ in a post about a person’s mother. Sket is a Carribbean word meaning a whore or a promiscuous girl or woman.
Failure to admit to the charge forced the FA to make a final decision on the 35-year-old, who served on FA Chairman Greg Dyke’s England commission.
Ferdinand was considering an appeal on Wednesday night. But if he accepts the punishment he will miss three matches with immediate effect and have to attend an education programme.
A statement released by the FA claims that they consider Ferdinand’s case to be an aggravated offence because his tweet included a reference to gender.
A statement on the FA website said: ‘Queens Park Rangers defender Rio Ferdinand has been suspended for three matches commencing with immediate effect, subject to any appeal, after an FA misconduct charge against him was found proven.
‘It was alleged a comment Ferdinand posted on his twitter account was abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper.
‘It was further alleged that this breach was aggravated pursuant to FA Rule E3(2) as the comment included a reference to gender.
‘Following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing on Wednesday 29 October, Ferdinand was also fined £25,000, severely warned as to his future conduct and ordered to attend an education programme, arranged by The FA within four months.’
But this is becoming a complex area for the FA when Ferdinand will be only too aware that in recent months the governing body took no action against either Premier League chief executive Scudamore or FA referees chief David Elleray over discrimination issues.
The FA have charged Ferdinand, despite the fact that he has been a member of FA chairman Greg Dyke’s England commission. He was even linked recently with the post of FIFA vice-president.
Ferdinand’s profile is huge. He has 5.9million Twitter followers and embraces social media to such an extent that he launched a chapter of his new book on Facebook.
He is also an ambassador for BT Sport — indeed he was involved in a BT Sport event with presenter Jake Humphrey in London on Tuesday night — and has worked as a pundit for the BBC.
Both BT Sport and the BBC declined to comment, but a tweet from Gary Lineker was fairly representative of the wider response.
The Match of the Day presenter said: ‘Thanks to @rioferdy5 I’ve just learnt a new word. The most surprising aspect of his charge is that the FA knew what a ‘sket’ was.’