Am I alone in thinking that if she was found guilty of racially abusing a player during a game then 5 matches is nowhere near long enough for a ban? Should have been 10 or 20 to send out a message
It does sound a bit light - but that said the Blunts have fired her so she has a much more severe punishment Wonder if they would have fired a bloke for the same offence - bearing in mind how lenient they were with Mr Evans
They haven't really fired her though as such. She's been banned for 5 matches and her contract ends in 6 matches anyway. from what both parties have said it actually sounds to me like she has chosen to quit and they've accepted.
She has now retired and has issued a statement criticising the conduct of her hearing. If what she asserts is right it sounds like there was an appetite to find her guilty. It’s not my area of law but I’m amazed that there is no appeal process given the gravity and consequences of this allegation. She’s effectively marked for life following this finding, made on the balance of probabilities on more or less a word against word evidential scenario.
She’s denied the charges throughout. There was no corroborating evidence and witness statements from opposition players directly contradicted each other. I think she was effectively found guilty before the investigation even got under way.
A startling lack of conclusive evidence. The understandable stigma attached to accusations of racism nowadays seems to lead to a guilty until proven innocent scenario, such is the appetite to appear tough on racists, which can be a dangerous road to go down. Career over and reputation in tatters, I suppose only she and the Tottenham girl will know for sure what happened. On a side note, did that Chelsea fan abusing Stirling ever get charged do we know? It seemed to be a case where no one could actually prove what was said despite it being pretty obvious. But without that actual proof, could he be charged? Would it come down to reasonable doubt?
There’s a whiff about the Jones case that makes me wonder if she’s been hung out to dry to send the message out, notwithstanding the paucity of the actual evidence. I’ve lost track of the Chelsea incident and would imagine every effort will be made to bring charges reflecting any racial abuse. If there isn’t the evidence to stand that up I can’t see any simple public order offences being charged given the precedent it would set for prosecuting fans for shouting general, non-racist, abuse at opposition players.
