JOHN TERRY is waiting to discover if he will face any charges after British police passed their file on his alleged racial slur of Anton Ferdinand to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The CPS can take as much time as required to decide if there is enough evidence against the Chelsea and England captain for him to have a case to answer.
The allegation arose from Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat at Queens Park Rangers on October 23rd. Terry has denied making any racist comments after footage of the incident circulated on the internet and a member of the public made an official complaint.
The Rangers defender, who did not see the video until later, talked to Terry after the game and, according to Terry, had no issue with the 30-year-old. But that evening Terry became aware of the building furore and issued a statement vehemently denying any wrongdoing.
“I thought Anton was accusing me of using a racist slur against him. I responded aggressively, saying that I never used that term,” he said.
“I’ve seen that there’s a lot of comments on the internet with regards to some video footage of me during the game. I’m disappointed that people have leapt to the wrong conclusions about the context of what I was seen to be saying to Anton Ferdinand. I would never say such a thing and I’m saddened that people would think so.”
But after a complaint from a member of the public the next day the FA also received an official complaint from QPR and Terry, with Chelsea backing him, welcomed the opportunity to clear his name.
He said: “I’ll do whatever it takes to clear my name. I don’t have anything to hide.”
Despite Andre Villas-Boas, the Chelsea manager, describing the situation as “a big misunderstanding” the English FA also decided to investigate with the governing body meeting Ferdinand at QPR’s west London training ground.
The incident was raised further when Hugh Robertson, the British sports minister, urged the FA to “take strong action” if the allegation was proved, and that Friday (October 28th) Anton Ferdinand was interviewed for two hours by the FA. During the interview Ferdinand made it clear he wanted a full investigation, but it is not known precisely what he told the governing body regarding details of the actual incident.
The following Monday Ferdinand issued a statement that thanked his club for their support and which also said: “I have very strong feelings on the matter, but in the interests of fairness and not wishing to prejudice what I am sure will be a very thorough inquiry by the FA, this will be my last comment on the subject until the inquiry is concluded.”
Guardian Service
