Friday, July 18, 2008

Race abuse earns local soccer star 3-year ban...

The campaign to kick racism out of soccer - at every level of the game - scored a huge local victory this week when a semi-pro South Lincs footballer was banned from matches for three years for hurling a torrent of racial abuse at another player.

The 22-year-old 'star' from Spalding had already been fined and banned for eight months by Cambs FA. But most of their fine and 182 days of the ban was for assaulting the referee who gave him a red card for a bad tackle in the same match.

Tom Gosling's racial abuse had earned him a further 42-day ban and a £50 fine from Cambs FA and he was confidently predicting he'd be back playing for Wisbech Town in October.

But the victim of his racism called in the police. Now the Spalding lad who previously played for Lincoln City's youth side has had his semi-professional career effectively ended by magistrates.

He pleaded guilty to racially aggravated harrassment and was ordered to pay his victim £100 compensation, fined £100 and ordered to pay £105 costs.

He must also attend a police station and surrender his passport when the England national team play abroad.

Of course, it's sad that a youngster has been so misguided and wasted his god-given talent.

But it seems young Mr Gosling already had a reputation as thebad boy of local football after a record of being sent off.

But despite admitting his offence of racial abuse, the former Lincoln City youth player told the Lincolnshire Echo
'I was getting paid to play football and it was fine. Everything was going smoothly...I can say I have not got a racist bone in my body...'
That's what they all say, usually just before telling us that some of their best friends are, er, black...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A ludicrous penalty which if challenged in the courts will be overturned. If only the courts could be so tough with burglars. But then that would require moral courage.

If only the left got half as hysterical about real crime as they did about "thought crime", then perhaps the country wouldn't be the wreck it is.

I only hope that someone is there to overhear the dopey magistrate when he says something he regrets in the future.

Still a good headline, and that's the main thing isn't it(?).