By Andrew Warshaw
February 28 – In a move that could serve as an important test case for English football’s disciplinary procedures, former French international striker Nicolas Anelka has been banned for five matches and fined £80,000 for his infamous “quenelle” gesture that made worldwide headlines.
The widely travelled and often controversial 34-year-old has also been ordered to complete a compulsory education course following a two-day English Football Association hearing.
Anelka always denied using the symbol, described as an “inverted Nazi salute”, to be anti-Semitic. He has the right of appeal and both punishments are suspended until after the outcome of that.
The gesture was brought to prominence by controversial French comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, a friend of the player. Anelka used it as a goal celebration during his current club West Bromwich Albion’s draw with West Ham in December but persistently declared on social media sites that he did so merely in solidarity with Dieudonne who claims the straight-arm symbol is anti-establishment rather than anti-Semitic.
The case was heard before an independent commission hearing which said in a statement that the two charges Anelka faced – that the gesture was abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper, and that it included a reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or religion or belief – were both found proved in terms of breaching the FA’s code of conduct.
“An independent regulatory commission has found an aggravated breach of FA rule E3 against Nicolas Anelka proven and has issued a five-match suspension and a fine of £80,000, pending appeal,” the statement said.
The panel upheld the FA’s charge that his rule breach “included a reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or religion or belief.”
But the commission also made it clear that Anelka had not been deliberately anti-Semitic.
“So far as the basis for our finding on Charge 2 is concerned, we did not find that Nicolas Anelka is an anti-Semite or that he intended to express or promote anti-Semitism by his use of the quenelle.”
Anelka has seven days from the receipt of written reasons for his punishment to notify the FA if he wants to go ahead and appeal or not.
Given the global reach of the Premier League, it was little surprise that Anelka was sanctioned but there will be those who will question whether the punishment fits the crime and whether he has been made an example of. Ordering someone of Anelka’s age and experience to attend an education programme may also be viewed with some scepticism.
But a five-match suspension seemed inevitable since it is the minimum penalty for aggravated misconduct under the FA’s new regulations. The fact is that Dieudonne is a contentious figure in France, with seven convictions for inciting racial hatred.
He was recently banned from a number of French cities and was also barred from entering the United Kingdom where he wanted to prove his show was not anti-Semitic.
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