DELE ALLI will miss Tottenham’s clash with Manchester United after being hit with a one–match ban by the FA for a social media post appearing to mock an Asian man.
A three-man independent panel has upheld the misconduct charge against the 24-year-old midfielder meaning he will have to sit out the big match against United next Friday.
Dele Alli will miss Spurs’ crunch clash with Manchester United next Friday following a one-match ban from the FACredit: Getty – Contributor
Dele Alli posted the video on to Snapchat but had to wait months to hear the verdict
It is a major blow to Jose Mourinho’s plans for the opening match in Project Restart with Spurs needing a victory to keep their slim hopes of a top-four finish alive.
Alli has also been fined £50,000 and ordered to attend a face-to-face education course after being found to have breached FA regulations on discrimination.
An FA statement said: “Dele Alli has been suspended for one match with immediate effect, fined £50,000 and must undertake a face-to-face education course following a breach of FA Rule E3.
“The Tottenham Hotspur FC player denied that a social media post breached FA Rule E3(1), as it was insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute, and constituted an “Aggravated Breach”, which is defined in FA Rule E3(2), as it included a reference, whether express or implied, to race and/or colour and/or ethnic origin and/or nationality.
“However, it was subsequently found proven by an independent Regulatory Commission.”
VIRUS VIDEO
The offending video, uploaded by Alli to Snapchat in February, showed the England star wearing a face mask in an airport departure lounge.
Captioned “Corona whattt, please listen with volume”, the footage then cut to showing an unaware Asian man before panning back to a bottle of antiseptic hand wash.
A further comment appeared saying: “This virus gunna have to be quicker than that to catch me.”
In evidence, Alli claimed he had attempted to catch the stranger at Heathrow Airport on February 6 in the act of coughing, which is why he told those viewing the video to turn the volume up.
In the event, no cough could be heard but the panel accepted his explanation that he was intending to make a joke and that there was no racial motive behind selecting an Asian man to film.
In bringing the charges, the FA made a point of stressing they did not claim Alli was a racist, a position accepted by the hearing which also ruled the post – which was limited to an audience of just 160 friends – was “more the product of spontaneous ill-judged stupidity rather than any sense of malicious intent”.
But it did decide that the post in itself had breached FA regulations, and felt the one match ban and fine was sufficient.
Dele said: “In response to the FA decision, I would like to apologise again for any offence caused by my behaviour.
“It was an extremely poorly-judged joke about a virus that has now affected us more than we could ever have imagined.
“I’m grateful that The FA has confirmed that my actions were not racist because I despise racism of any kind. We all need to be mindful of the words and actions we use and how they can be perceived by others.”
Alli swiftly deleted the video and posted an apology on the Chinese social media network Weibo.
At the time he said: “It wasn’t funny and I realised that immediately and took it down.
“I let myself down and the club. I don’t want you to have that impression of me because it wasn’t funny… It isn’t something that should be joked about.
“I’m sending all my love and all my thoughts and prayers to everyone in China.”
The FA hit the Tottenham ace with an FA misconduct charge on February 26, and originally gave him a week to respond.
But the case dragged on for over three months, despite the coronavirus lockdown not preventing the holding of any hearing.
In the event Alli had to wait until the beginning of this week before finally getting the chance to state his case to the three-person independent disciplinary committee.
Spurs still face a wait to discover the fate of team-mate Eric Dier who is also facing a misconduct charge for going into the crowd to confront an angry fan.
During the coronavirus lockdown in May, Alli was battered by knife-wielding robbers who burst into his £2million home and escaped with watches and jewellery worth £350,000.
Dele was in a downstairs room with long-time partner Ruby Mae, his adopted brother Harry, Harry’s girlfriend and another male friend when the masked bandits burst in at 12.30am.
They punched the Spurs midfielder in the mouth and assaulted another man after demanding the frightened group hand over valuables. One suspect then ran upstairs and ransacked several of the star’s bedrooms.
The Spurs man issued a public apology soon after the film was leaked
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
