Terry banned for racial abuse

Soccer:John Terry has been banned for four matches and fined €250,000 after being found guilty of racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand by am English FA independent regulatory commission. The Chelsea skipper denied the charge but the commission ruled that he was guilty of misconduct during Chelsea's Barclays Premier League defeat at QPR on October 23rd last year.

The 31-year-old, who on Sunday announced his retirement from international football, can lodge an appeal against the panel’s decision.

Terry’s representatives, Elite Management, said in a statement released on his behalf: “Mr Terry is disappointed that the FA Regulatory Commission has reached a different conclusion to the clear not guilty verdict of a court of law. He has asked for the detailed written reasons of the decision and will consider them carefully before deciding whether to lodge an appeal.”

he case centred around an incident during Chelsea’s Premier League defeat at QPR on October 23rd last year when the pair clashed verbally on a number of occasions. Terry was found not guilty in Westminster Magistrates Court in July of a racially-aggravated public order offence with the prosecution unable to prove he had called Ferdinand a “f****** black c***” as an insult.

Terry admitted using the words, but insisted he had only been repeating words he thought Ferdinand had accused him of saying. Chelsea and England team-mate Ashley Cole gave evidence that helped exonerate Terry, telling the court: “We shouldn’t be sitting here”.

The FA’s decision to press ahead with their own charges infuriated Terry to the extent that on the eve of the disciplinary hearing he announced he was quitting international football with immediate effect, saying his position was “untenable”. Terry’s legal team had argued the governing body’s own rules dictated that his acquittal in court meant the case could not proceed but the FA believed their charge was distinct from the court charge.

The panel who handed Liverpool striker Luis Suarez an eight-match ban when they found him guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra last season declared at that time that simply using racist language was enough to constitute a breach of FA rules.