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5 Shots on target 3

12 Shots off target 5

5 Corners 2

16 Fouls conceded 20

77% Pass completion 76%

3 Offside 1

December 21, 2011
The New York Times
By JERÉ LONGMAN

John Terry, captain of England’s national soccer team and the powerful club Chelsea, faces a criminal charge over accusations that he made a racial slur during an October match, apparently becoming the first player to be prosecuted for remarks said on the field.

The accusation against Terry, which he denied, represents an escalation in the attempt to stem the persistent and widespread problem of racism in European soccer.

On Tuesday, the Uruguayan forward Luis Suárez, who plays for Liverpool of the English Premier League, was suspended for eight matches and fined about $63,000 for making abusive remarks in an October game toward Patrice Evra, a black defender from France who plays for Manchester United.

On Wednesday, the Crown Prosecution Service, the agency responsible for laying criminal charges, said it had charged Terry.

Antiracism officials said they were encouraged by the actions taken against Terry and Suárez. But they cautioned that international soccer had lately sent mixed messages about discrimination despite a campaign over the past five years to reduce racial smears made on the field and in the stands. Fans in some European countries have been known to throw bananas and peanuts, and direct monkey chants, toward black players.

Sepp Blatter, the embattled president of FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, was widely criticized last month after trying to minimize the extent of racism on the field and suggesting that any player who felt affronted should settle the matter with a postgame handshake.

The Terry and Suárez cases represent “a very important step that sends two messages,” said Lord Herman Ouseley, chairman of the London-based antidiscrimination organization called Kick It Out. “If you are inclined to behave like that, you are not going to get away with it,” he said. “And it’s encouraging to black players, who have often felt, ‘Why bother, it’s a waste of time.’ Most thought nothing would come out of these allegations.”

At the same time, Ouseley said in a telephone interview that he would withhold judgment on English soccer’s long-term determination to stamp out racism until Terry’s case played out through the judiciary and Suárez decided whether to appeal his ban by England’s soccer federation, known as the Football Association. He has 14 days to file an appeal.

“We will have to wait and see whether there is consistency and durability in application of a high standard of conduct, backed by strong investigation and discipline with penalties, or whether this is a one-off, and we go back to leniency and complacency,” Ouseley said.

The English Premier League is considered the world’s best club competition and features many of the top international players. Two-thirds are foreign-born. Racial sensitivity in the league has increased substantially in recent years, and the atmosphere is considered far more embracing than leagues in Spain and Italy. Yet, the Terry and Suárez cases indicate that English officials are still troubled by some abusive on-the-field behavior.

Terry, who is 31, appears to be the first player to face a criminal charge of racism, said Ouseley and Howard Holmes, founder of another London-based antidiscrimination group called Football Unites, Racism Divides.

“I can’t find any other case where the police were involved,” Holmes said in a telephone interview. “There have been a number of instances that have gone to court, but they’ve been fan-based.”

Terry, who is white, is accused of making a racist remark during an October match toward Anton Ferdinand, a black defender who plays for Queens Park Rangers, a London rival of Chelsea.

A hearing for Terry is scheduled for Feb. 1. He is charged with violating Britain’s Crime and Disorder Act (of) 1998, which focuses on antisocial behavior. If found guilty, the maximum fine he faces is about $4,000, but a conviction could cost Terry the captaincy of his club and national team, his reputation and his ability to earn endorsement money.

“I am satisfied there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest to prosecute this case,” Alison Saunders, London’s chief crown prosecutor, said in a statement.

Terry has denied the charge, saying the context of his remarks was misunderstood. He said in a statement Wednesday, “I have never aimed a racist remark at anyone and count people from all races and creeds among my closest friends.”

According to The Guardian newspaper of London, Ferdinand did not immediately realize what Terry had said to him during the October match. Rather, Ferdinand grew concerned later when the encounter between the two players drew widespread attention on social media sites. He later saw footage of the confrontation that had been posted on the Internet.

Terry has said that he thought Ferdinand was accusing him of making a racial slur during their encounter and responded to Ferdinand by saying he would never use such a term.

The situation is complicated because Ferdinand’s brother, Rio, is a partner of Terry’s in central defense for England’s national team. And it was Rio Ferdinand who scathingly challenged Blatter’s suggestions last month that players should resolve racial tensions with handshakes. Via Twitter, Rio Ferdinand, who plays with Evra for Manchester United, called Blatter’s remarks “condescending” and “almost laughable.”

Blatter was widely ridiculed and Hugh Robertson, the British sports minister, urged him to resign. Blatter declined to step down but said he regretted his remarks and promised “zero tolerance” of racist behavior in soccer. A FIFA campaign against racism began at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The widespread reaction against Blatter’s remarks in England, as well as the social media response to the Terry incident, undoubtedly influenced the Suárez suspension and the decision to prosecute Terry, said Holmes, the antidiscrimination official.

“We can’t adopt a holier-than-thou attitude and, when it’s in our backyard, wash our hands of it,” Holmes said.

Suárez, the Liverpool forward, was accused of using a racial term 10 times against Evra in an October match against Manchester United. Suárez has said that he did not realize that language that was acceptable in his native Uruguay was considered racist in England.

“I understand the point about cultural differences,” Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the union for England’s professional soccer players, told British reporters Wednesday. “But if you come to this country, all players have to abide by not just the laws of the game, but the laws of the land as well.”

Liverpool has vigorously defended Suárez. During warm-ups for their match against Wigan on Wednesday, his teammates wore white T-shirts with an image of Suárez on the front and his name and his number, 7, on the back.

 

Rob Hughes contributed reporting from London.

Sunday 27 November 2011
18.38 GMT
Guardian.co.uk
Nick Szczepanik
This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 18.38 GMT on Sunday 27 November 2011.
A version appeared on p36 of the Main section section of the Guardian on Monday 28 November 2011. It was last modified at 00.06 GMT on Monday 28 November 2011.

The Wales football manager Gary Speed, who has died at the age of 42 after apparently taking his own life, was an outstanding footballer and promised to be equally successful in this new phase of his career. But while he had been in charge of the national side for only 10 games, his playing career was long and distinguished.

A skilful, athletic and versatile left-sided attacking midfield player, Speed was also an exceptional header of the ball and had a healthy knack of scoring goals. He represented Wales and four different Premier League clubs – Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers – during a 22-year club career.

His longevity at the top level of the game was underpinned by a remarkable dedication to his profession. One of the first British players fully to embrace new ideas about fitness and nutrition, his success can be judged by the fact that only two players, Ryan Giggs and David James, have surpassed his total of 535 Premier League appearances, while he holds the record for the most appearances for Wales by an outfield player – 85 – made over 14 years.

He won the only major honour of his career, the Football League championship, early in his career, with Leeds in 1991-92, the last season before the formation of the Premier League, but appeared in two FA Cup finals with Newcastle, and acquired a reputation as a leader and model for other players. He captained most of the teams he played for at some time, including Everton, the club he supported as a boy. He was appointed MBE in 2010 for his services to football.

Born in Mancot, Flintshire, Speed was the only Welshman in his family, his parents, sister and children all being born in Chester. He went to Hawarden high school and played regularly for Flintshire Schoolboys and Aston Park Rangers before joining Leeds straight from school in June 1988.

He made his first-team debut at 19 for the club then in the second division, helping win promotion for Howard Wilkinson's team in 1989-90, his second full season, and winning his first Welsh cap against Costa Rica in May 1990. Although he also played as a defender and forward – "I think I played him in every position," Wilkinson said – he became a regular on the left of a midfield that also included Gary McAllister, David Batty and Gordon Strachan, a formidable quartet that would help the team to win the championship in 1992, ahead of Manchester United.

However, Leeds failed to build on that success, and after 312 games and 57 goals for his first club Speed jumped at the chance to join Everton in 1996, for £3.5m. He signed a five-year contract and finished his first season as the Toffees' player of the year, being made captain of his club, as he was for his country, at the beginning of the 1997-98 season.

However, what should have been a dream for the boyhood Evertonian began to turn sour. There were rumours, never fully substantiated, of fallings-out behind the scenes, and Speed moved to Newcastle for £5.5m in 1998 after only 65 games and 17 goals.

He was to play 284 times for the Magpies, including defeats in the FA Cup finals of 1998, by Arsenal, and 1999, by Manchester United. However, although titles eluded him, he also played in the Champions League while on Tyneside and kept up his scoring record, netting 40 times. In July 2004 he moved on to Bolton for £750,000, and it was while at the Reebok Stadium that he became the first player to make 500 Premier League appearances, in a 4–0 victory over West Ham. He also, in May 2007, took his first steps into coaching. The following October he decided to concentrate solely on playing again, but in the new year he left the top flight, signing for Sheffield United. A back injury suffered in November 2008 prompted Kevin Blackwell, the manager, to suggest a permanent move to a coaching role, an opportunity that Speed grasped with relish.

Three games into the 2010-11 season, Blackwell was sacked and Speed promoted into his first managerial post, but he was not to stay long in the Bramall Lane chair. In December 2010, he was named as the successor to John Toshack as Wales manager, the Welsh FA paying compensation to United.

Although Speed had presided over five victories and five defeats in his 10 matches in charge of the principality, there were plenty of encouraging signs in Speed's stewardship, not least that four of the wins came in the past five games, with an unlucky 1-0 defeat by England at Wembley the only blemish.

"He completely transformed the Welsh situation from one of despair to one of hope and expectation," his former Wales teammate Mark Bowen said. "The players liked him and had a real bond with him that showed in games. Everyone was really excited."

Speed is survived by his wife, Louise, and two sons.

• Gary Andrew Speed, footballer and manager,

born 8 September 1969; died 27 November 2011