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Anton Ferdinand: I was Scared to Speak out about John Terry case

John Terry was accused of using racist language during QPR vs Chelsea in 2011; criminal case found it could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt the words were spoken as abuse; FA panel, working to a lower threshold, found Terry guilty

Anton Ferdinand says he was scared to speak out during his high-profile racism case against John Terry in 2011. The former West Ham, QPR and Sunderland defender recently opened up about the case for the first time in the BBC documentary Anton Ferdinand: Football, Racism and Me.  Then-Chelsea and England captain Terry was accused of using racist language during a Premier League match between QPR and Chelsea on October 23, 2011.

Although Terry was acquitted in a criminal case related to the incident, after it was judged it could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt the words were spoken as abuse, a Football Association independent disciplinary panel, working to a lower threshold, found him guilty. As a result, Terry was then banned for four matches and fined £220,000.

Ferdinand said his silence was in part because that was what he had been advised, but also because he was afraid of the ‘whirlwind’ his comments would cause. “I didn’t feel like I was the right representation of our community in terms in speaking out and I don’t think that I could have at the time anyway,” he said.

“I was scared to speak out and I see that now. I was scared of the whirlwind of what happened, the abuse on social media, I couldn’t get away from it, it was always there. “I felt like I just couldn’t speak, not just because it would harm the court case, which was being drummed into me a lot at the time. “I did something that I wish I hadn’t done, which was I left it in the hands of the authorities and they failed me.”

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