FA investigating Hamza

[Captain...]

16 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

It's still there visible on his page, it was there to be found, a view the world considers him to endorse by its existence. He's seen footballers, rugby players, film directors, comedians, politicians and actors all get in trouble for historic (and current) tweets over the last few years and he's still never removed them. 

I’m not sure I 100% agree with that, but it does depend on what sort of code of conduct he has to sign to become a professional footballer. 

 

I dont think it necessarily endorses it by it's continued existence, but it does leave the FA open to an embarrassing situation. Imagine a few years time they had made him a poster boy for their latest anti racism campaign and then a tweet like that is unearthed. It is enough of a grey area ‘racist’ tweet to undermine the campaign. 

 

I think anything that that can be retweeted and subsequently start trending is an active tweet and even if written years ago it can still be made relevant. I don’t use twitter so I don’t know if a retweet includes the time stamp of the original tweet. If not then it can easily confuse a historic tweet with a current one. Either way if it is not deleted it can be brought up and shared easily more so than something written on Facebook.

 

I would advise all professional sportsmen and women to create a new official social media account when they become pros and keep any old ones strictly private or delete them. It really doesn’t seem worth it, 

[jammie82uk]

Seen this posted today as it was “liked” by Robert Huth 

 

 

[lcfc sheff]

Full England cap next year I reckon ?

[StanSP]

There's a tweet by Sterling from 2014 saying 'sister better turn up in the kitchen today'. 

 

Now, not that I want him to get charged or anything but in the interests of consistency and the precedent they're setting with the Choudhury stuff, you'd think the FA would be having a look at it? 

 

Like I said, I don't think he should be because it's 5 years ago and barely offensive (if at all) but this is also a prime candidate for the Daily Mail and the like to go for... 

[Koke]

 

[StanSP]

 

 

[Foxes1]

Listening to Jeff Stelling and co on Sky sports yesterday and they all agreed (even Merson) that charging him is ridiculous. Mind you the old fuddy duddies on the F A panel probably haven't heard of twitter.

[Corky]

Are these the only "offensive" tweets on his page? If so, that would suggest somebody maybe had a word six years ago and he's learned a lesson already. If there was a consistent posting throughout the time then that is a bigger issue.

 

Let's be honest, if he hadn't played on Sunday, he wouldn't have been charged. The FA need to do more than just react to a few pissed off fans of big clubs.

[Daggers]

47 minutes ago, Corky said:

Are these the only "offensive" tweets on his page? If so, that would suggest somebody maybe had a word six years ago and he's learned a lesson already. If there was a consistent posting throughout the time then that is a bigger issue.

 

The RSPCA is seeking a prosecution over his mistreatment of three tamagotchis, and a Furby has made a complaint of sexual misconduct. It never ends.

[Steven]

On 03/05/2019 at 18:43, mad biker said:

I pinched a packet of sweets when I was 11, am 63 now but am seriously thinking of going to the dibble and fessing up, what do you think I should do ?

Serious criminals like you should be banged up!  

[Fox in the North]

Surprised that when you sign your first formal contract, the club’s pr people don’t sit down with you and go through your profile to avoid this sort of thing coming up. 

[UniFox21]

1 hour ago, Fox in the North said:

Surprised that when you sign your first formal contract, the club’s pr people don’t sit down with you and go through your profile to avoid this sort of thing coming up. 

That will probably start happening tbh; every one will get more training on social media usage.

[urban.spaceman]

 

[woddyuk]

On 02/05/2019 at 17:04, Izzy said:

Fvck Twitter. Horrible invention 

Worse There's somone employed at the tabloids to go back through years and years of this to find a little nugget to sit on until the "time is right" to release it. Let be honest if Hamza was playing under 23s for Rochdale no one would give a toss. 

[don_danbury]

5 minutes ago, woddyuk said:

Worse There's somone employed at the tabloids to go back through years and years of this to find a little nugget to sit on until the "time is right" to release it. Let be honest if Hamza was playing under 23s for Rochdale no one would give a toss. 

this was all down to arsenal fans being bitter because they lost. strange bunch of fans. you'll see a lot more players getting charged next season when they inevitably get battered countless times.

[KFS]

7 minutes ago, woddyuk said:

Worse There's somone employed at the tabloids to go back through years and years of this to find a little nugget to sit on until the "time is right" to release it. Let be honest if Hamza was playing under 23s for Rochdale no one would give a toss. 

Exactly, the inherent obsession in the UK to drag people down after a success really does baffle me. Hope the spotty Arsenal fans gave themselves a pat on the back for this one.

[brucey]

7 hours ago, KFS said:

Hope the spotty Arsenal fans gave themselves a pat on the back for this one.

They also dug out tweets that showed Hamza was an Arsenal fan... well guess what they just shot themselves in the foot if they want to sign him in the future.

[Ric Flair]

Hope he scores tonight, runs off and nicks a Man City fans phone, logs in to Twitter and tweets a video of him doing a Nazi salute shouting UP THE RA

[Stoopid]

23 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Hope he scores tonight, runs off and nicks a Man City fans phone, logs in to Twitter and tweets a video of him doing a Nazi salute shouting UP THE RA

Royal Academy?

[UniFox21]

25 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Hope he scores tonight, runs off and nicks a Man City fans phone, logs in to Twitter and tweets a video of him doing a Nazi salute shouting UP THE RA

"Honestly FA panel, I've never heard of the Nazi's, thought WWII was a bad film sequel. And the RA, thought that was some weird slang for the club" 

 

[Jattdogg]

In an ali g voice.

 

"Is it coz i iz brown?"

[Vlad the Fox]

He should say that the black joke was an attack on the institutionalised racism within the police force. 

[Foxxed]

On 04/05/2019 at 08:20, Finnegan said:

 

It's still there visible on his page, it was there to be found, a view the world considers him to endorse by its existence. 

 

...

 

on his social media account now in the real time, regardless of how long ago it was posted.

 

...

So, if your adolescent views can be dug up online are you endorsing them?

 

If Hamza were actively and consciously promoting six year old tweets then I would agree.

 

But it seems very, very likely Hamza - like everyone else on the planet - had forgotten about whatever he posted six years ago during his adolescence.

[Guest MattP]

Some support for Hamza from Matthew Syed in The Times today.....

 

Misconduct? FA should charge those aged 15 who don’t hold ridiculous views

 

I couldn’t prevent myself from laughing a little when reading that Hamza Choudhury had been charged by the FA with misconduct. His offence relates to a few messages on social media, one considered racist, posted when he was 15 years old. That was six years ago.

 

Frankly, I think the FA has this the wrong way around. I think people should be charged if they didn’t hold ridiculous views as 15-year-olds. They should be charged if all their tweets were politically correct, ethically wholesome and written in such a way as to reflect the retrospective moral sensibilities of future committees trawling through their adolescent missives.

 

I mean, isn’t childhood about getting things wrong? About expressing ridiculous views so that they can be challenged and thus refined? Don’t children learn by saying what they truly think, and then discovering the flaws in their arguments? The idea that Choudhury can be charged for what he thought as an adolescent, views that he ditched long ago, is risible. A simple retraction could have avoided the whole thing.

 

And, while we are on the subject, the tweet that is thought to have caused most offence seems, to me at least, as anything but racist. When I read it yesterday, I thought it was a marvellous piece of satire. “Why are black people so fast,” he asked. “Because the slow ones are in prison.”

 

I took this as a biting critique of the stereotyping that remains pervasive in British society and which, dare I say it, continues to dog the governing bodies of football.

 

It would be a terrible shame if children today had to void their conversations with friends, a dialectic that drives learning and growth, out of fear of future retribution of overly zealous committees looking for innovative ways to be offended. This kind of retroactive censorship isn’t good for communication, or, indeed, natural justice. And that is why the FA should think again.

[ClaphamFox]

32 minutes ago, MattP said:

Some support for Hamza from Matthew Syed in The Times today.....

 

Misconduct? FA should charge those aged 15 who don’t hold ridiculous views

 

I couldn’t prevent myself from laughing a little when reading that Hamza Choudhury had been charged by the FA with misconduct. His offence relates to a few messages on social media, one considered racist, posted when he was 15 years old. That was six years ago.

 

Frankly, I think the FA has this the wrong way around. I think people should be charged if they didn’t hold ridiculous views as 15-year-olds. They should be charged if all their tweets were politically correct, ethically wholesome and written in such a way as to reflect the retrospective moral sensibilities of future committees trawling through their adolescent missives.

 

I mean, isn’t childhood about getting things wrong? About expressing ridiculous views so that they can be challenged and thus refined? Don’t children learn by saying what they truly think, and then discovering the flaws in their arguments? The idea that Choudhury can be charged for what he thought as an adolescent, views that he ditched long ago, is risible. A simple retraction could have avoided the whole thing.

 

And, while we are on the subject, the tweet that is thought to have caused most offence seems, to me at least, as anything but racist. When I read it yesterday, I thought it was a marvellous piece of satire. “Why are black people so fast,” he asked. “Because the slow ones are in prison.”

 

I took this as a biting critique of the stereotyping that remains pervasive in British society and which, dare I say it, continues to dog the governing bodies of football.

 

It would be a terrible shame if children today had to void their conversations with friends, a dialectic that drives learning and growth, out of fear of future retribution of overly zealous committees looking for innovative ways to be offended. This kind of retroactive censorship isn’t good for communication, or, indeed, natural justice. And that is why the FA should think again.

I also thought this when I first read that tweet. Do people really think it’s a racist joke rather than a joke about racist attitudes? His other tweets were pretty innocuous. I’m really struggling to get my head around the fact that the FA have deemed it necessary to charge somebody for some fairly tame tweets sent half a decade ago when they were a child.