Rio Ferdinand has gone back to Twitter to express his frustration at the Football Association’s decision to suspend him for three games, as well as impose a £25,000 fine, for posting an offensive message on the social media site back in September.
Queens Park Rangers will receive the written reasons for the sanction on Monday but have not made a request for the suspension to be postponed. Ferdinand was punished after the 35-year-old used the word “sket”, slang for a promiscuous woman, in a reply to a user on transfer deadline day. The club will scrutinise those reasons once received before deciding if they are to challenge the punishment.
That means Ferdinand, who has 5.93m Twitter followers, will definitely miss today’s west London derby against the Premier League leaders, Chelsea, regardless of whether he subsequently manages to have the sanction rescinded or reduced on appeal. He is also due to sit out the Premier League games against Manchester City and Newcastle.
While Ferdinand is understood to accept his response on social media to a tweet about his early form at QPR was inappropriate, he returned to Twitter to deliver his first public comment on the matter, posting a message early on Friday evening that read: “Is humour even allowed - I’m baffled! Ludicrous & I don’t mean the rapper.”
Another user, called @flowingmindset, duly sent Ferdinand a message suggesting the FA were guilty of double standards. “They have not prosecuted Mackay & Moody and referee Elray (sic),” he wrote, a reference to suggestions the former Cardiff manager Malky Mackay and his sporting director Iain Moody may escape sanction after a series of homophobic, racist and sexist texts were publicly exposed, and also its treatment of a disciplinary case involving the chairman of the FA’s referees’ committee, David Elleray. The centre-half swiftly replied: “Preach!!”
The veteran defender, who has recently lost his place in the QPR team, is dismayed at having effectively been made an example by the FA with the imposition of a suspension and a fine – as well as ordering him to attend an education programme – particularly as others appear to have escaped punishment for similar offences. Yet this is the second time he has been reprimanded by the governing body for his use of Twitter after he appeared to endorse a description of Ashley Cole as a “choc ice” in 2012.
The veteran defender was a member of Greg Dyke’s FA commission into the future of English football but is now unlikely to lend his help to the organisation again. Ferdinand’s club-mate, Joey Barton, lent his support by Tweeting to his own 2.75m followers: “Surely a person has the right to be offensive? Especially if someone offends you? Shambolic that @rioferdy5 misses 3 games and loses £25k.”
He added: “I understand the need to reprimand him. He’s a human being who has reacted to some unfair criticism. But the punishment isn’t fitting of the crime in my opinion. 3 games is violent conduct. Terry only got 4 games for racial abuse? 3 games and £25k for a tweet? Come on.”The centre-half then messaged Barton: “its a Tepid tweet....3games im not even going to hashtag it!!” “I have said way worse I am sure,” added the former Manchester City midfielder. “Don’t understand how you can be banned from football. It’s nothing to do with it.”
