I don't think I've missed the point, I think I'm responding to someone who says this same thing whenever the topic comes up. It's always damaging to talk about bigotry, and that is of course bad because bigotry is bad and it's bad to hurt the cause, but never is anything done to actually champion the cause. It's also ridicilous to talk about unconcious biases or stereotypes in the context of Sourness's seething hatred of Pogba, for instance, and in at least three other threads about bigotry on the Caf (I don't know if keeping count or not keeping count is worse, but I didn't).
Marc Bola charged by FA over nine-year-old social media post
- Thread starter SilentWitness
- Start date
How long are players banned when they get DUIs? Interested to see that compared to how long someone gets banned for a 9 year old tweet.
The investigation should be this:
"He was 14? really?"
"yeah, he was 14".
End of investigation. No punishment.
Maybe the player himself should come out and say something like "I was a kid and said something moronic, I'm sorry".
"He was 14? really?"
"yeah, he was 14".
End of investigation. No punishment.
Maybe the player himself should come out and say something like "I was a kid and said something moronic, I'm sorry".
Just imagine how many of us would be fecked if we got retrospectively penalised for what we did as 14 year olds.
I'm 27 and I'm nothing like the person I was in my middle teens. I was a gobshite and thought I was 10 men.
I'm 27 and I'm nothing like the person I was in my middle teens. I was a gobshite and thought I was 10 men.
Guys let’s kick racism out
I’ve got an idea let’s start at the beginning when they were kids and punish them that’ll sort everything....
I’ve got an idea let’s start at the beginning when they were kids and punish them that’ll sort everything....
I wasn't aware of the FA banning people for DUIs. Obviously I've just missed it, can you help me out?
I have no clue, I just assumed I'd they were banning people for racist tweets from a decade ago they would also punish people doing something far more malicious
Well that'd be a moronic thing to assume, wouldn't it? Is that something you started worrying about with Bola, or were you outraged when Suarez was banned aswell?
In the Jordan Bowen instance, they took his age into consideration and just warned him and he had to attend an education course. The same should apply here. If they dismiss it entirely, then it would send out the message that tweets deemed racist are worse than tweets deemed homophobic. Which seems an unnecessary distinction to make.
One was 14, one 15. One tweet deemed racist, the other homophobic. Both from 9 years ago. I can't see how they can justify treating Bola any more leniently than Bowen as it would send out an unnecessary message about how differently they regard instances of racism and homophobia.
So I'm expecting a warning and a ruling of attending an education course, same as the Bowen tweet.
Makes you wonder, what sad bastard scrolled down 9 years of Jarrod Bowen tweets?
They didn't ban Bowen for the racist tweet when he was 15. He received a warning and had to attend an education course. The same should apply to Bola for his homophobic tweet when he was 14.
Andre Gray was banned for homophobic tweets from 4 years earlier. But the distinction they made there was that he was an adult - 21 - and playing senior, semi-pro football. They took into account Bowen's age, and the fact he wasn't 'affiliated with professional football', at the time of his tweet. So the same should apply with Bola. But he should still be warned and attend an educational course same as Bowen.
Last edited:
Should stop the debate about whether or not children are smarter than adults. Tiny brains, the lot of them.
Why is this being brought up now after 9/10 years?
He was a kid who said something stupid as a KID. The world has gone mad
He was a kid who said something stupid as a KID. The world has gone mad
Feck off 
. But I am glad I avoided social media as a teenager
. But I am glad I avoided social media as a teenagerI'm a fool for getting involved in this so here goes nothing I guess
Let me preface this with saying that I'm against any malevolent and offensive actions whether it be just cussing, abusing, making fun of or other offensive and abusive behavior
And here's where my gripe begins the infatuation to specifically punish racist and homophobic comments what makes these 2 particularly worse then other forms of abuse
This sort of censorship, canceling,punishing or whatever you call it in my opinion paves the way to the limiting of freedom of speech and thats a very dangers road to tread upon
Are these sort of comments hideous? no doubt about it but is this the course of action we must take?
I'm not blind to the fact that racism and homophobic behavior still exit hell i wager most of ours do have our prejudices (weather we acknowledge them or not)and that to a degree thats okay
Were I draw the line is definite discrimination in law or actions of a person (treating someone differently based on their inherent qualities) something wich at this point i doubt happens in any modern country though i unfortunately still happens among certain groups of people
I have a perhaps flawed but simple defention of freedom of speech and its that everything bar directly or indirectly threatening to harm a person or several is okay no matter how heinous it may sound
Private companies may want to dissociate with specific mindsets and thats okay just put it in the contract
But to specifically punish someone for what they said years before is an asinine and malicious thing to do
Let me preface this with saying that I'm against any malevolent and offensive actions whether it be just cussing, abusing, making fun of or other offensive and abusive behavior
And here's where my gripe begins the infatuation to specifically punish racist and homophobic comments what makes these 2 particularly worse then other forms of abuse
This sort of censorship, canceling,punishing or whatever you call it in my opinion paves the way to the limiting of freedom of speech and thats a very dangers road to tread upon
Are these sort of comments hideous? no doubt about it but is this the course of action we must take?
I'm not blind to the fact that racism and homophobic behavior still exit hell i wager most of ours do have our prejudices (weather we acknowledge them or not)and that to a degree thats okay
Were I draw the line is definite discrimination in law or actions of a person (treating someone differently based on their inherent qualities) something wich at this point i doubt happens in any modern country though i unfortunately still happens among certain groups of people
I have a perhaps flawed but simple defention of freedom of speech and its that everything bar directly or indirectly threatening to harm a person or several is okay no matter how heinous it may sound
Private companies may want to dissociate with specific mindsets and thats okay just put it in the contract
But to specifically punish someone for what they said years before is an asinine and malicious thing to do
That's putting a lot of power in the hands of companies. Surely if I as a private person don't want to party with shitheads you're not going to physically force me to? You value free speech, after all. And if you don't want to force me to party with shitheads, why would you suddenly start forcing me to if I happened to create a company, unless I specifically said in the contract that I don't want to party with shitheads?
People always talk about freedom of speech, what about freedom of association?
Sorry as I don't understand your point? What i meant was that I believe fa is a private company so if they don't want their players tweet racist bullocks they should put it in the contract
I agree putting too much power in private companies hands is never a good thing so I don't mind a law were either
1 there are defined line of thought you could dissociate with
2or that a private company cannot in any case dissociate with a person unless sentenced in court of law
I prefer the second one because the first one will lead to the slippery slope of defining what's right and wrong though I don't mind if done right
So, for instance, if Liverpool were to punish Suarez for racially abusing Evra you'd be livid, right?
Not livid as don't care much about the shithead
But unless its specifically stated in fa contract that he signed no i don't think it would be right
(Unless you're punishing every sort of offensive behavior on the pitch including simple cussing)
I guess someone like you were running Liverpool then, and everyone else weren't because what the feck Liverpool why defend a racist piece of shit? You could have helped draw the t-shirt, maybe gotten a christmas card. Then you could have gone to Chelsea to hold a party in the honor of John Terry for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand. All part of the job.
I'm a newbie for now and have post limit so I apologize if this is my last response
No by no means do I condone any offensive behavior such as that twat Suarez
And their insistence on defending him to that degree was pathetic and cringy as hell
But as you said before and I did in my previous post I don't like companys having unlimited power
So say a company that is employing me goes back to my Twitter history(wich I thankfully don't have ) and decides they can cancel my contract based on stuff there or cut my pay or other similar actions
I don't think that's okay thats why I think there should be a clear guideline in such situations as I outlined before
And returning to your point about Suarez and Terry their action was committed in the stadium wich is their working place so if its outlined in their contract or fa's guidelines yes they should have certainly been punished(wich by now we know it either didn't exist in their contract or that theire employers were gormless feckers)
Neither Suarez nor Terry were punished by the law, which was a stipulation you yourself offered up. Suarez was banned by the FA, but the FA is a private thing just like the contracts are. Meaning that you're perfectly fine with the racist abuse going unpunised. Not only that, if the club hasn't specifically said that their players can't be racist pieces of shits then you wouldn't only defend Suarez for racially abusing Evra, you would attack Liverpool if they ever tried to punish him. Not because you condone his behaviour, of course, you just think he should be allowed a carte blacnhe unless otherwise specified.
I'm more outraged that the fa doesn't see it as worse to be charged with a DUI. Punish the players for being racist even if I don't think a 14 year old tweet should ever be looked at. But you don't punish DUIs at all? They literally endanger people's lives. Not sure why I'd be moronic to assume people would have problems with drunk driving
If you actually are, then fair play. Wan Bissaka is in court now driving without a licence, he was deemed not safe to drive because of his speeding. Suarez and Terry are racists. You can judge them accordingly.
If ever there was a need for a statute of limitations, it’s for this sort of thing.
Pretty sure the statute of limitations would apply to this, but the FA is a private thing. They can do what they want. It's an easy way for them to pretend they care about racism.
I think there's a good point being made above btw. They're charging kids for things they said a decade ago but in their eyes it was absolutely fine when [Irrelevant point] killed somebody?
Thats my point, there needs to be a statute of limitations in sport or even public life. If a 14 year old footballer in a club academy says something horrific on social media now they should be punished for it. If a 24 year old said something horrific 10 years ago on social media they should still apologise by all means but they should be given the benefit or the doubt that they have since grown and become a better person. It’s up to them to demonstrate they‘re no longer that person it’s not up to the FA or anyone else to punish them 10 years on.
Had you been on the lagers last night?!
I agree but i don't see how. Even if the FA grow up and stop making an official issue out of it, you still have the Twitter army hunting for anything and everything to turn into a cause. They are out there vilifying long dead people for things they did hundreds of years ago. 10 years ago might as well be yesterday to them.
Bet he doesn't even remember making the joke and legit cringed when he saw it and not even due to panic over a potential punishment.
If I were an agent, I'd probably advise my clients to delete their social media from before they became a pro and start new profiles just in case they made ignorant comments or insensitive or offensive jokes that they don't recall.
Joke for him to be punished but we know what the FA are like.
If I were an agent, I'd probably advise my clients to delete their social media from before they became a pro and start new profiles just in case they made ignorant comments or insensitive or offensive jokes that they don't recall.
Joke for him to be punished but we know what the FA are like.
Most of the football establishment and media seem to think that racism is just saying the n word, and that if you punish people every time they say the n word you have won the fight against racism. That's soo stupid and entirely ignores the role of unconscious bias and structural discrimination in football and the media.
The FA 'warned' him against doing more tweets like this thing he sent in 2012. Well thanks FA, I'm sure he was planning to tweet a load more racist stuff and he had just been on hiatus for 9 years. Luckily the FA has responded in a timely manner here, or god knows what would have happened!
In 2020 the Chairman of the FA had to step down after saying a load of racist and homophobic things to a parliamentary committee. If they want to address racism in football they should probably start by looking at their managerial recruitment policy, rather than going through teenagers' tweets from a decade ago.
The FA 'warned' him against doing more tweets like this thing he sent in 2012. Well thanks FA, I'm sure he was planning to tweet a load more racist stuff and he had just been on hiatus for 9 years. Luckily the FA has responded in a timely manner here, or god knows what would have happened!
In 2020 the Chairman of the FA had to step down after saying a load of racist and homophobic things to a parliamentary committee. If they want to address racism in football they should probably start by looking at their managerial recruitment policy, rather than going through teenagers' tweets from a decade ago.
This is the biggest issue for me.
It's elements of society that's gone OTT at the moment. Searching for anything they can be offended by in the former tweets of 'famous' people; re-judging historical figures living in different times, with different laws and values, by 21st century laws and values, etc...
Once these old tweets are brought up by the public / the media then I don't see what else the FA can do tbh? Same as happened as soon as Ollie Robinson, the cricketer, made his England debut and so someone obviously trawled through his old tweets - or brought up the old tweet now he was more relevant and in the news and it would be a bigger story.
They're the people taking things a step too far. But once it's out there, and action demanded on the known individual, the authorities have to take some form of action. Personally, I think they got it about right with Bowen - the same as should have applied to Cavani by taking his lack of English and complete lack of intent into account - by just issuing a warning and saying he had to attend an educational course.
They got about the right level of punishment that both acknowledged the inappropriateness of the tweet, but also took into account the time past and the young age of the tweeter. So, of all things, I don't see the need to criticise the FA over these tweet issues - unless they suddenly ban Bola for some games, which would surprise me.
‘ most of the football establishment’ Rather a sweeping generalisation.
The chairman stepped down not due to racist comments but used offensive and outdated terminology not fitting for a person in his position. His stereotyping of certain ethnic groups marked him out as a dinosaur and rooted
in a culture more in keeping with the 1970s and 80s. It’s not comparable with the disgusting and dangerous posts made by keyboard warriors
Of this generation
This is a valid point. And I thought a similar thing about the whole Cavani tweet.
It seems ludicrous that it's in the FA power / remit to ban a player for 3 games for unintentional offence in a foreign language, and yet a club mate (Maguire) who had, at around the same time, got into physical altercations and been sentenced to a suspended jail sentence doesn't warrant any on field ban? And, now, similar applies to AWB with his actions.
I know we're in a bit of a betwixt and between stage in society at the moment, and some things are a bit OTT before, hopefully, leveling out - but it's weird that incidents of racism / homophobia (even unknowingly) completely away from the football pitch, such as on twitter, are deemed actionable by the FA, yet incidents like assault and DUI's are just completely ignored from a football / FA point of view.
Ah yeah, driving without a license is being compared to driving under the influence. Where do you live where that sort of thing is relatable?
Yeah. The quote he had to resign for was: "If I look at what happens to high-profile female footballers, to high-profile coloured footballers, and the abuse they take on social media... social media is a free-for-all."
He said he'd worked for years in America, were that was the politically correct term they were trained to use, and had accidentally used it in that moment. TBH, changing terminology is one of the very difficult things to keep up with atm - words / terms that were pushed as acceptable become offensive, and vice versa. Words that are still offensive, but used freely by some members of the abused group, but that are still shocking when used by others, etc. In certain situations, when trying 100% not to offend, it's very difficult to know what word is currently the accepted one to use and which one, used in innocence, may offend (for instance, when discussing the Paralympics).
But in his high profile role he obviously needs to keep up with which terminology is the accepted / unaccepted one within each country and use / not use them as appropriate. Still, it's a bit unfair if his failed attempt at using a PC term is remembered as him 'saying a load of racist and homophobic things' as if he'd gone on some kind of rant and revealed himself as a bigot.
Last edited:
He needs to keep up but why does he need to keep up? Why do we have to change what’s acceptable and what isn’t? Ok, don’t use n words but what’s wrong with the other words?
The FA should be ignoring this stuff. Unless they did it when they were a registered professional footballer and of course an adult. Kids say and do stupid shit all the time.
Sactioning them 10 years later is just them wanting to be seen to be doing something.
Sactioning them 10 years later is just them wanting to be seen to be doing something.
I can't think of a more counter productive thing to do than punish someone for a stupid opinion they held or a shit joke they told in a different decade when they were children. It's just ammo for racists in their culture war nonsense and achieves nothing. Of course that might be what the FA are going for though, who knows with those old dipshits.