For many years mentions of the Football Association’s ‘disciplinary committee’ conjured images of a gathering of antiquated blazers from various county FA’s arriving at Lancaster Gate for h'ordeuvres and aperitifs, before musing over the misgivings of a lairy footballer and thus deciding whether the cat o’ nine tails or a three game sit on the naughty step were adequate comeuppance for the greaseball in question.
Nowadays the ‘disciplinary unit’ seems to have sexed itself up to rival Sir Harry Pearce and co in Spooks. After another fractious weekend of Premier League football, a host of implausibly handsome agents will roll across the bonnets of their chauffeur driven Mercedes and into the high-tech towers down at Soho Square to liaise with police and analyse video footage of an incident which has since gone viral to millions around the world.
The incident we speak of is of course the John Terry racism allegations, and even if in reality the truth seekers in question do lie somewhere in between the one’s who want to wash mouths out with soap and those who shoot on sight in tube stations, the FA and its people who do deal with such matters once again find themselves hopelessly marooned over an issue which has become routinely insolvable.
By the time the row exploded via a hive of social networking activity on Monday afternoon, the FA were already busy swimming in circles about similar circumstances involving Patrice Evra and Luis Suarez.
In both cases the FA have vowed to pursue the claims with vigour but concrete evidence on which to prosecute an individual over such matters is extremely thin on the ground. It largely comes down to one man’s word against another and even though in both instances the scene of the clashes were littered with peripheral bodies, there seem to be a suspiciously large number of deaf ears from all camps.
The FA will now be charged with sifting through various camera angles and microphone recordings in the hope that some light will be shed on the matter, whilst a number of players from all sides will be interviewed to see if they can add anything to the piece.
Although each and every club subscribes to stamping out discrimination from within the game, this also comes with a feeling that clubs deal with issues with a large amount of self-appreciation. The two-ing and fro-ing of the allegations requires bonafide testimonies and it is difficult to imagine another player from the accused’s club leaping forward to add weight to the investigations against a team-mate.
During Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate’s trial for affray ten years previous, then club colleague Michael Duberry had the presence of conscience to give evidence in court which would - had the trial not collapsed due to the contempt of the Sunday Mirror - potentially have been damning to men he would theoretically have had to shower and change with in the future.
Duberry’s contributions to the case were not taken well amongst fellow players and fans of Leeds United at the time and the defender duly found himself pilloried to the point of having to leave the club for the heinous offence of helping officers with their enquiries.
Unsurprisingly each of Liverpool, Manchester United, QPR and Chelsea have pulled their men from the middle and are standing staunchly by them in the corner of the rings, leaving the FA stood isolated to piece together the rather fragmented and circumstantial evidence which would be picked to pieces by any self respecting defence lawyer in a court of law.
Indeed it is the police who have also been summoned onto the Terry affair because the complaint about the England captain was made to the Met on Monday morning by a member of the public.
The Met will deal with the issue as a criminal mater, and would therefore be legally obliged to produce a case fit to stand up throughout legal channels. As we’ve mentioned above, the nature of the evidence available to all parties is shrouded in innuendo and lacking in clarity meaning unless there are a number of witnesses able to collaborate accusations - which with Terry and Suarez there are not - a prosecution would almost certainly fail.
The involvement of the police has also added to the futility of the FA’s pursuit of justice. If the police do not have enough evidence to convict, how could a lesser body do anything but follow suit without fear of any reciprocal legal retaliations being administered through the very same judicial system which had previously exonerated the accused?
Nor, given the nature of the subject can the FA be seen not to act seriously or sweep it under the carpet as they do with so many other issues which would be equally as hard to prove.
It’s often difficult to find sympathy with the disciplinary processes of the FA who’s statutes and precedents are largely baseless and inconsistent and who’s uncodified constitution of our national game makes it about as democratic as your average African despot. But in these scenarios - it is.
The FA’s attempts to stamp out all forms of discrimination from the game are far more than an empty gesture but considering the complexities of confirming guilt, they still represent a toothless tiger over the issue.
Until they are presented with a, forgive the pun, black and white case of abuse from upon the field of play the FA can do little to act upon the matter. However one day, unfortunately sooner rather than later, there is likely to be an instance which is proveable and it is then which the FA need to show their might and intention to stamp out racism from the game.
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