By Andrew Warshaw
October 8 – The boss of England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) says the four-match ban meted out by the Football Association (FA) to former England captain John Terry for racist abuse was not a strong enough penalty.
Clarke Carlisle says the ban was not sufficient to tackle the issue of racism.
Terry’s ban is half that handed to Liverpool’s Luis Suárez last season and Carlisle said: “The Luis Suárez ban sent out a strong message that racism isn’t tolerated in the game.”
“Diluting that with this four-match ban almost undermines the initial message.”
Terry is still deciding whether to appeal against the suspension and £220,000 ($354,000/€273,000) fine after an independent FA regulatory commission punished him for language used towards Queens Park Rangers’ Anton Ferdinand in a Premier League game a year ago.
Carlisle wants a rehabilitation programme to be imposed on players found guilty of racism.
“If he doesn’t contest this decision and an appeal isn’t forthcoming it would do John Terry’s image a lot of good if he was seen to be contributing to these sort of campaigns,” Carlisle told BBC radio.
“It would also further affirm the message that this is something that we stand for in football.”
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