Sports Law & Practice

It is not often we see sporting governing bodies sanctioning football players for issues with regards to public speaking, although when such public speaking occurs in written form and on social media, the punishment is usually swift and severe.  Rio Ferdinand must have realised that this is certainly the case, when The FA, a few days ago, handed down, against him, a three-match ban and a £25,000 fine for the use of the word 'sket' in a tweet. It also ordered Rio Ferdinand to attend an education course.   For those who are unfamiliar with the definition of the word 'sket', it is submitted that the offending word makes reference to a woman or a girl that could be characterised as promiscuous. It is considered to be slang and by definition, it is derogatory. The offending tweet, which was in response to criticism against Rio Ferdinand was published as follows:  “@ManCunian56: @rioferdy5 @matiousmarston Maybe QPR will sign a good CB they need one” > get ya ...