Lakenheath Old Boys

We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!

Friday, July 13, 2012

John Terry Not Guilty of Racial Abuse

In the most baffling courtroom decisions since the OJ trial, John Terry has been found not guilty of racial abuse of Anton Ferdinand. The verdict came after days of in-depth testimony to just that, brilliantly summed up in today's New York Times here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/world/europe/trial-of-soccer-star-terry-revolves-around-foul-language.html

What I like most about the Times' coverage is its typically priggish PG-rated language when describing the details of the testimony - here's my favorite bit: 

"Most of these constituted 'handbags,' or 'normal verbal exchanges between the players,' Mr. Terry told the police, according to the transcript. These types of things, the players said, include calling other players fat, or taunting them about how their mothers like to have sex with people in other cities. 'However unpleasant,' Mr. Terry said, “'it’s a fact of the modern game.'”

Your thoughts, gents?

2 Comments:

Blogger manunitedrules said...

Absolutely disgraceful and sickening.I understand some of these things have always gone on , but how can he condone racist remarks. I don't understand how he was found not guilty.My fear is that it will set a horrible precedent. Does this mean that players will make racist and ethnic remarks, using the excuse that it's something that is part of the game? This decision has set football back about thirty years and really shows that racism is alive and in full flow.

5:28 PM  
Blogger gooner71 said...

Celebrities and footballers are immune from conviction and it's no wonder they end up thinking like Tiny Tears that they can do whatever the hell their want with impunity. Shame on the CPS.

But shame too on Rio for forfeiting the high ground immediately with his inane cheering of the "choc-ice" tweet.

Footballers, eh? Daft as a brush the lot of them.

1:40 PM  

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