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Andre Gray .. 4 match ban and £25,000 fine for Twitter posts



clippedgull

Hotdogs, extra onions
Aug 11, 2003
20,789
Near Ducks, Geese, and Seagulls
Burnley forward Andre Gray has been given a four-match ban for comments made on social media. The 25-year-old had been charged by the Football Association for bringing the game into disrepute over homophobic posts he made on Twitter in 2012.

Following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing on Thursday, Gray was also fined £25,000, warned as to his future conduct and ordered to attend an FA education course.

Gray’s ban is immediate, meaning he will miss Burnley’s Premier League game at home to Watford on Monday evening followed by fixtures with Arsenal, Southampton and Everton.

The tweets, which also contained offensive terms, were posted when Gray was playing for non-league Hinckley United.

They came to light on August 20, the day he scored his first top-flight goal as he helped Burnley - who he joined from Brentford in 2015 - to a 2-0 win over Liverpool at Turf Moor.

An FA statement read: “Burnley forward Andre Gray has been suspended for four matches commencing with immediate effect for misconduct in respect of social media comments. It was alleged that six postings on his Twitter account were abusive and/or insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute contrary to Rule E3(1).

“It was further alleged that these breaches of Rule E3(1) included a reference to sexual orientation and/or gender and/or colour and/or race contrary to Rule E3(2). The player admitted to three of the breaches, and denied the remaining three were in breach of FA Rules.

“Following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing yesterday, the remaining three breaches were found proven. The player was also fined £25,000, warned as to his future conduct and ordered to attend an FA education course.”

Burnley have accepted the ban and said in a statement that Gray “regrets the posts” and apologises for them.

The statement read: “Burnley Football Club and Gray accept the Independent Regulatory Commission’s decision, which relate to historical posts made before Andre joined the club in August, 2015.

“Gray himself regrets the posts and has pledged, in an apology, to continue to improve, both as a person and role model to others. We believe this charge, regarding historical social media posts, should now also serve as a warning to all professional footballers, and participants in the wider sporting field.”
 




















sussex_guy2k2

Well-known member
Jun 6, 2014
3,695
Quite honestly, considering Luis Suarez got a longer ban for something that there was no actual evidence of, I think he's been a very lucky boy. That it happened a few years back is irrelevant.
 








BensGrandad

New member
Jul 13, 2003
72,015
Haywards Heath
Granted clubs cannot do anything about past postings but it seems likely that they will ban their players from using social media. That seems a sensible move to protect their interests.
 




crookie

Well-known member
Jun 14, 2013
3,305
Back in Sussex
Bloody ridiculous

Totally agree. Some of the racist shit jokes my classmates came out with back in the 80's, if there had been social media back then, if anyone of them had been successful, someone would have dragged it up to expose and ridicule, and probably destroy them. People do change, mature and grow up. IMO it is totally relevant when he posted that stuff. It was not when he was a Burnley player. If it was not considered newsworthy or worth making an issue of 4 years ago, it shouldn't be now, just become his career has gone on an upward curve. He has said he was in a bad place then, and is a different person now, and regrets what he posted. Are we now such a vindictive society that we take pleasure in hounding people because of something distasteful they said a few years ago ? This desperate desire to become offended on behalf of other people is an awful development
 




Thunder Bolt

Ordinary Supporter
Totally agree. Some of the racist shit jokes my classmates came out with back in the 80's, if there had been social media back then, if anyone of them had been successful, someone would have dragged it up to expose and ridicule, and probably destroy them. People do change, mature and grow up. IMO it is totally relevant when he posted that stuff. It was not when he was a Burnley player. If it was not considered newsworthy or worth making an issue of 4 years ago, it shouldn't be now, just become his career has gone on an upward curve. He has said he was in a bad place then, and is a different person now, and regrets what he posted. Are we now such a vindictive society that we take pleasure in hounding people because of something distasteful they said a few years ago ? This desperate desire to become offended on behalf of other people is an awful development

He could have deleted those tweets at any time. Just because there is a time difference in the things he did, doesn't make it any better.
The reason people don't make shit jokes any more is because of legislation like this to prevent discrimination.
 


sussex_guy2k2

Well-known member
Jun 6, 2014
3,695
He could have deleted those tweets at any time. Just because there is a time difference in the things he did, doesn't make it any better.
The reason people don't make shit jokes any more is because of legislation like this to prevent discrimination.

Precisely. Quite honestly, if he wasn't a footballer he probably would've been facing jail time. I think he's done incredibly well out of it.
 


Brian Fantana

Well-known member
Oct 8, 2006
7,202
In the field
Totally agree. Some of the racist shit jokes my classmates came out with back in the 80's, if there had been social media back then, if anyone of them had been successful, someone would have dragged it up to expose and ridicule, and probably destroy them. People do change, mature and grow up. IMO it is totally relevant when he posted that stuff. It was not when he was a Burnley player. If it was not considered newsworthy or worth making an issue of 4 years ago, it shouldn't be now, just become his career has gone on an upward curve. He has said he was in a bad place then, and is a different person now, and regrets what he posted. Are we now such a vindictive society that we take pleasure in hounding people because of something distasteful they said a few years ago ? This desperate desire to become offended on behalf of other people is an awful development

Absolute nonsense.

He could have deleted those tweets at any time. Just because there is a time difference in the things he did, doesn't make it any better.
The reason people don't make shit jokes any more is because of legislation like this to prevent discrimination.

This.
 


Feb 23, 2009
22,840
Brighton factually.....
Very lenient considering the words he used.

Simply shocking and so archaic

PS: maybe it is an age thing but what is # thing mean ? because those look evil things if that is part of the tweet.
 

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“It was further alleged that these breaches of Rule E3(1) included a reference to sexual orientation and/or gender and/or colour and/or race contrary to Rule E3(2). The player admitted to three of the breaches, and denied the remaining three were in breach of FA Rules."

What absolute hypocrits they FA are, who ban players from their most lucrative competitions purely on the grounds of gender.
 


Icy Gull

Back on the rollercoaster
Jul 5, 2003
72,015
A ban that is likely to see Burnley cemented near the bottom of the Premier League at the end of it, every cloud...
 



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