Street Tweet not so neat

Football managers and coaches are not infrequently subjected to disciplinary sanctions by football regulatory bodies for speaking out about referees and such like. It is comparatively rarer for players to be sanctioned for expressing themselves, although this has now happened twice to QPR and sometime England midfielder and avid tweeter Rio Ferdinand. The player collected a three match ban plus a £25,000 fine, and a requirement to attend an education course, for the use of the word “sket” in a tweet.   “Sket” is, as all lawyers surely know, street argot for a woman of loose and promiscuous habits.  The FA even fielded an expert in slang from King’s College, London, to establish this.

 The offending tweet, posted in response to a criticism of Ferdinand’s play, went as follows: 

“@ManCunian56: @rioferdy5 @matiousmarston Maybe QPR will sign a good CB they need one” > get ya mum in, plays the field well son! #sket”.

 This, the FA said, was abusive and/or indecent and/or insulting and/or improper contrary to FA Rule E3(1). The offence was aggravated under FA Rule E3(2) by a reference to gender. The Tweet fairly evidently suggested that Ferdinand’s critic’s mother was a woman of wayward habits. Thus it stood in the long line of “your momma” jibes, traceable at least as far back as Shakespeare (see Titus Andronicus Act 4, Scene 2). 

Ferdinand did not formally respond to the charge, and was duly found guilty of the misconduct alleged.   Imposing the three match ban plus other penalties, the FA Regulatory Commission noted that Ferdinand had form for dodgy tweets, having associated himself with a tweet that suggested Ashley Cole was a “choc ice” in 2012. 

So, what about free speech?   No such thing, at least not in this context. So long as the FA maintains its position as not being a public authority, it is not subject to the constraints of Article 10 ECHR, which guarantees freedom of expression. Footballers subscribe to the rules of their club and association, and these rules include limits on free speech.

Some QPR fans may be secretly relieved that manager Harry Redknapp is temporarily free of the risk of picking the out of form Ferdinand, but a three match ban on the not so super hoop seems harsh, especially when it is remembered that violent conduct warrants a similar ban, and John Terry was banned for just four matches for racially abusing Rio Ferdinand’s brother Anton in 2012.   Rio Ferdinand’s own take on the ban, delivered by Twitter, was “Is humour even allowed. I’m baffled! Ludicrous – I don’t mean the rapper”, and others in the Twittersphere have pointed out that the FA hasn’t (yet) taken action against Malky Mackay and Iain Moody for alleged sexist, racist and homophobic texts, or against referees' chairman David Elleray for an alleged racist remark.

Ferdinand is not appealing the ban, according to reports, so for the time being if you want free speech at a football match, you have to sit in the stands. That’s where Rio Ferdinand will be for three matches.

POST SCRIPT 20 November 2014

Former Cardiff Manager Malky MacKay is now reported to be under investigation by the FA for text messages which appear more offensive than anything tweeted by Ferdinand, but this has not prevented Wigan Athletic from hiring MacKay as its new manager.  Wigan Chairman Dave Whelan has courted controversy by dismissing the allegations against MacKay as "little things", and claims to be confident that the FA will not discipline the manager.  It remains to be seen whether this confidence is well founded.