To me it simply beggars belief that a public disorder racism trial should last five days with the maximum fine, if found guilty, being £2,500 regardless of the extraordinary cost to the taxpayer. I loathe rcism of any form yet if you want to find it go to a football match where it remains rife as well as sexism and basically appalling language.

I have no idea whether or not Terry racially abused Ferdinand although it seems clear to me it happens regularly on football pitches whether they be Premiership or Hackney Marshes. The regularity of it doesnt condone it, it will always be wrong, but the obvious political nature of this trial makes me seethe. Had Terry not been England captain, which he lost first time for having an affair with a team mate's ex-girlfriend, and then again because he allegedly abused the brother of the ex England captain Rio Ferdinand, then I doubt very much if this trial would be happening.

I could go on and on and on but instead I shall have a brandy and think about England thrashing the Aussies once more...

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Before facebook nobody cared what you had for breakfast; they still don't.

I could not agree more with everything you have said.

The only other point I would add, is that Mr Ferdinand did not even hear the abuse, it was only when he returned home, and his then girlfriend made him watch a video of the incident, that he made a complaint.

No fan of John Terry, but this seems to be a rather "manufactured situation".

Having spent a lot of time -years - involved in anti-discrimination legislation law I sometimes wonder at the stupidities that have become associated with it and which are serving to undermine the very real need for such legislation.

This trial is farcical. Better for them to have sorted it out with fists, handbags or pistols at dawn. The same with some 'sexual harassment' cases...Whatever happened to a good old-fashioned slap around the chops if someone pinched your backside or made an unwelcome remark?

What to me is quite wrong is that it is the perception of the 'victim' not the intention of the 'offender' that matters in law. So if someone were to call me a 'daft old dyke' in fun -it's happened, I retaliate in kind, we have a laugh - and I was in a bad mood I could report this as a homophobic insult (and ageist and speciesist too...).

Of course there must be laws to protect against harassment and discrimination but this has become an industry whereby local authorities employ 'advisors' whose job it is to ensure that nothing discriminatory occurs in practices and the courts waste scarce public money on ridiculous cases such as this.

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'The Owl of Minerva spreads her wings only at the onset of dusk'.

I haven't been following this, because reports on the behaviour of English footballers are pretty low down my reading list.

But isn't the whole point to have a "show trial", as a stand against racism in football?

It won't affect Terry in the least, he will pay the fine without even noticing it and still play for England I'm sure.

I'd like him to be charged with ABH for his spiteful off-the-ball attack on Alexi Sánchez during the Chelsea-Barça semi-final.

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Read about life in the pueblo: La Vida Alcalaina

What would be the point of a 'show trial', though...
I can't see how this would make a stand against racism in football unless it was seen by the general public as serving that function which it isn't and won't.
What impact did the Suarez- Evra incident have?

Football is taking a stand against racism asnd homophobia but changes in ingrained attitudes won't change overnight. The FA is or was doing a lot of work in schools but focused only on race.

Terry is imo a racist misogynistic lout...but Spanish players, no matter what club, are no angels either. They all use professional and spiteful fouls when it suits them. I note too that Spain was one of two countries whose spectators were found to have used racist abuse during the recent Europe matches, the other being Ukraine.

Racism, homophobia and misogeny (spelling?) are sadly ubiquitous in many sports, not just football.

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'The Owl of Minerva spreads her wings only at the onset of dusk'.

I think that very few ever wanted a show trail on this matter, but their hands have been forced somewhat because the incident appeared on national TV.
I was in the UK at the time and saw the whole thing - you didn't need to be good at lip reading to understand what was said.

I thought that Terry was simply a stupid xxxxxx and then thought no more about it until later.

The problem was, when asked about the incident, rather than immediately apologising and (hopefully) cutting down on damage done, Terry denied it had happened (probably on bad advice from someone...) and from that time the whole thing has taken on a power of its own.

Quite. Blown up out of all proportion.

Terry like many (but not all) footballers of ALL nationalities wouldn't qualify for membership of MENSA.
But he like the rest is paid to knock a ball about skilfully and effectively on a patch of grass, not edit Encyclopaedia Britannica.

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'The Owl of Minerva spreads her wings only at the onset of dusk'.

From what I can see this whole trial has turned into an exercise in breeding racism. Its this nonsensical cry of "rasism" that makes people racist!

Jo xxx

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Terry's attack on the Barca player was simply overtly stupid. As Mary pointed out very few footballers would be likely to join the ranks of Mensa. The other issue is how footballers cheat, again with overt stupidity. The Barca player collapsed like the proverbial sack of potatoes when all that happened was that he was nudged in the back by Terry's knee. I recall a Brazillian player a few world cups ago who had a ball kicked at his shins whilst standing at the corner flag. He clutched his face in agony and refused to get up and, if I recall, was stretchered off, only to return a few seconds later none the worse. These overpaid thugs (not all of them) are also hopeless actors and I would love to see a system put in place where if a player was shown to have cheated he receives an automatic three match ban with no right to appeal. Managers would stamp out the practice overnight. However, I'm not holding my breath; it's taken decades for the draconian leaders of football to introduce goal-line technology.
Back to the trial. It seems that the defence team plan on discrediting Ferdinand's character which shouldn't prove to be very difficult. But in that case, why isn't the defence team on trial too for openly criticising a black player? It just goes on and on and on and slurp here is the brandy...

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Before facebook nobody cared what you had for breakfast; they still don't.

But they are role models for young men, apparently.

I'd rather my son grew up like Andrés Iniesta ....

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Read about life in the pueblo: La Vida Alcalaina