By Andrew Warshaw
July 31 – The social networking site Twitter, already proving hugely controversial in the Olympic Games, has also landed Manchester United and former England defender Rio Ferdinand in hot water after he was charged with improper conduct by the Football Association (FA).
Ferdinand (pictured above) denied he was being racist in relation to comments he posted on Twitter describing Chelsea’s Ashley Cole as a “choc ice”.
A statement on the FA website said: “The FA has today charged Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand with improper conduct in relation to comments posted on Twitter.
“The allegation is that the player acted in a way which was improper and/or bought the game into disrepute by making comments which included a reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race.”
Cole appeared in court recently (pictured below, centre, arriving at the trial) as a defence witness for club and country team-mate John Terry who was cleared in a criminal prosecution of racially abusing Ferdinand’s younger brother Anton, during a game at Queens Park Rangers in October last year.
Terry has since been handed a separate charge, this time by the FA, relating to virtually the same offence, but has again denied any wrongdoing.
He is alleged by the FA to have used “abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour” in the same match.
A choc ice is a popular ice cream, but is also commonly understood to mean “black on the outside, white on the inside”, and was allegedly a reference to Cole’s testimony in court, in which he said he never heard Terry make a racist remark to Anton Ferdinand.
Rio Ferdinand has until 4pm on Thursday (August 2) to respond to the charge or risk a heavy fine – or even a suspension ahead of the new Premier League season.
Shortly after his “choc ice” tweet, he retweeted that the expression: was “not a racist term.
“It’s a type of slang/term used by many for someone who is being fake.”
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