Ferdinand denies FA charge

Man United defender Rio Ferdinand has denied an FA charge against him.

The Man United defender had been vocal over Twitter regarding the trial of John Terry who was accused of racially abusing Ferdinand’s brother Anton.

The Manchester United defender has today appealed after the FA charged him with making improper comments which included a reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race on the social media network.

The charge is in reference to Rio replying to a tweeter who had labelled Cole “a choc ice” for acting as character witness for his Chelsea teammate and Captain John Terry.

Ferdinand appeared to endorse the reference to Cole as a ‘Choc-Ice’, a term used to describe someone who is a traitor to their race, or someone who is black on the outside but white on the inside.

Ferdinand tweeted to back to the individual: ‘I hear you fella! Choc ice is classic. Hahahahahaha!!’ The tweet was later deleted and Ferdinand claimed it was slang for someone being ‘fake’.

An FA statement read: "Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand has today [Thursday 2 August] denied an FA charge of improper conduct in relation to comments posted on Twitter.

"The allegation is that the player acted in a way which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute by making comments which included a reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race. The player has requested a personal hearing."

Police were also investigating the incident.

Needless to say the chances that either Terry, who is still facing an FA charge for the Anton Ferdinand incident despite not being proved guilty in a Circuit court in London, or Rio appearing in Roy Hodgson’s England squad for their August friendly against European runners-up Italy are slim to say the least.

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