PORT VALE striker Tom Pope has been hit with a SIX-game ban and a £3,500 fine for an anti-Semitic Twitter post.
The FA dished out the punishment after Pope, 34, made comments in the early hours of January 5 following his goal in the 4-1 FA Cup defeat at Manchester City.
Tom Pope has been banned for SIX games after an anti-Semitic Twitter post
In a series of posts, he promoted anti-Semitic myths about the Rothschild family “owning the banking system”.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned Pope for subscribing to “the notorious antisemitic conspiracy theory” and urged the FA “to send a clear message that the promotion of antisemitism will not be tolerated at any level of the game”.
FA disciplinary beaks began a probe within 24 hours, demanding information from the striker.
And an FA statement today read: “Tom Pope has been suspended for six matches, fined £3,500 and must complete a face-to-face education course for an “Aggravated Breach” of FA Rule E3 in relation to a social media post on 5 January 2020.
“The Port Vale FC player denied that comments he made were abusive and/or insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute, contrary to FA Rule E3(1), and constituted an “Aggravated Breach”, which is defined in Rule E3(2), as they included, whether express or implied, reference to race and/or religion and/or ethnic origin.
“An independent Regulatory Commission subsequently found the charge to be proven during a personal hearing.
“Written reasons for both a preliminary application ruling and the decision and sanction are available below.”
While a ban for social media comments is not automatic in normal situations, Pope is facing the sanction as was his FOURTH offence in less than 12 months.
In June 2019, he was fined £2,000 and warned for Twitter comments about Mansfield chief executive Carolyn Radford.
Five months later, he was banned for one game for posts about the allegations of historic sexual abuse at Crewe following a win over the Railwaymen.
And in January, Pope was handed another one-game ban for a post in which he compared a fan to the character Sloth from the 80s film “The Goonies”.
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard apologies for rant at Klopp at Liverpool match
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
