Pope gets six game ban

[Coyney Valiant]

I know pope should keep off twitter but a 6 game ban come on John terry racially abused Ferdinand on camera and gets 4.game ban but I suppose pope don’t play in the premier league 

[robf]

1 minute ago, Coyney Valiant said:

I know pope should keep off twitter but a 6 game ban come on John terry racially abused Ferdinand on camera and gets 4.game ban but I suppose pope don’t play in the premier league 

Pope is a repeat offender though. It's different incidents but this is his third charge for tweets (and he's lucky it's not more judging by some of the other things he tweeted).

I think the harshness is to do with the fact it is a repeat offence and in the FA eyes he didn't seem to understand/learn from the other two charges.

You could argue that Terry did something awful as well but he didn't repeat it again and again. If he had done I would imagine he would have got some monumental ban because the FA would have increased it for a repeat offence.

I think the FA are kind of saying to Pope... you have come to us twice before, apologised and said it won't happen again but it has happened again. In other words you've offered us glib apologies but not followed through. If the previous fines and bans didn't work then perhaps a longer ban will make you think again. 

I agree the ban lengths seem to be a bit of a lottery but for me - this isn't the FA committee's fault - if he hadn't have been an idiot on social media we wouldn't have to discuss the length of the ban.

I love Tom Pope to bits on the pitch, I just hope he really does learn his lesson now.

[Andy Proctor]

Pope should announce his retirement then they wont be able ban him 

[DistantVale]

32 minutes ago, robf said:

Pope is a repeat offender though. It's different incidents but this is his third charge for tweets (and he's lucky it's not more judging by some of the other things he tweeted).

I think the harshness is to do with the fact it is a repeat offence and in the FA eyes he didn't seem to understand/learn from the other two charges.

You could argue that Terry did something awful as well but he didn't repeat it again and again. If he had done I would imagine he would have got some monumental ban because the FA would have increased it for a repeat offence.

I think the FA are kind of saying to Pope... you have come to us twice before, apologised and said it won't happen again but it has happened again. In other words you've offered us glib apologies but not followed through. If the previous fines and bans didn't work then perhaps a longer ban will make you think again. 

I agree the ban lengths seem to be a bit of a lottery but for me - this isn't the FA committee's fault - if he hadn't have been an idiot on social media we wouldn't have to discuss the length of the ban.

I love Tom Pope to bits on the pitch, I just hope he really does learn his lesson now.

I was very surprised after the second incident that either Askey , or the club didn't ask him to close his Twitter account  , is it the correct punishment for a 3rd offence, probably !   😞

 

[Joe B]

Fundamentally if it wasn't Pope who was a repeat offender and it was a more 'fringe' player, I imagine the fanbase would want their contract terminated.

[Lornelounger]

Well, I suppose it means we may see more of Devante Rodney than we thought we might in the first few weeks of the season.  

 

[eh up nah]

I imagine the fact that he's been down this road before has got that length of ban.

For a one off, it would be  exceptionally harsh.

[JRC]

3 hours ago, Smugsy said:

https://www.port-vale.co.uk/news/2020/july/pope-fa-tribunal-outcome/

 

Knew things were going too well. The tribunal acknowledged that the intent was not anti semitic but he still gets a six game ban. Doesn't add up to me.

The tribunal accepted the intent rather than the post itself wasn't antisemitic.  You don't need to prove intent the judgement is based on the action itself. The post itself was deemed antisemitic.  

[Jacko51]

If you want to read more about the actual commission which reached the conclusion you can do so here by clicking on the links at the end of this item.

http://www.thefa.com/news/2020/jul/22/tom-pope-suspended-220720

What has gone against Tom Pope is that he had four previous offences to his name, he did not accept the offence and apologise which would have stood him in good stead and despite the explanation given at the hearing, did not accept that his tweet could be considered as anti-semitic.

Reading between the lines it looks like he was in a hole but kept digging.

[RailwayRowdy]

Most people who use social media do so because they feel it makes themselves feel important.

It doesn’t.

All it does is to reinforce the stereotypes which surround ordinary people and especially old and modern footballers in particular.

I can’t say that people are not interested in what footballers have to say because figures will no doubt suggest otherwise.

But whether they are worth listening to or indeed taken seriously is a completely different matter.

 

 

[TheSage]

What's done is done and the links Jacko provides are interesting. I can see why, with previous form, he was banned. But others have got away with incidents that I think were far more serious. In some ways it's entirely of his own making. Missing a month and a half of football, though, is a very harsh penalty. John Stones will be wetting himself. It's a blow to us as he was still a key member of the squad.

[Mario]

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/port-vale-tom-pope-ban-4361498?fbclid=IwAR39SeX6NE4VqB5RFrH0FNqP_4mF_zVpBuFVcg4jpzrxkAA2xhNb_gBI3Gs

So.....The Club are going to appeal .

" 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."

“We are pleased, however, that the tribunal acknowledged that there was no anti-Semitic intent on Tom’s part in posting the tweet concerned.  Indeed, it was never even asserted by the Football Assertion that Tom held such beliefs, nor that he had any such intent when posting the tweet, as the tribunal points out in its decision "

This is the bit that gets me..

" The FA said they didn’t need to show whether Pope intended the comments to be anti-Semitic, only that they could reasonably and objectively be considered to be so "

Suarez got 10 games for a second biting offence so in my opinion Tom has been stitched up with a 6 game ban.

[RailwayRowdy]

What punishment other players got (or didn’t get) is totally irrelevant.

Pope has continually made controversial or at least crass  comments in the past. Whether he means what he said is another matter.

I suspect he is being controversial just to be, err, controversial. However, in today’s PC world you cannot come out with the comments he does, even if he understands their connotations which, I suggest, is doubtful.

Meanwhile the Vale legend, denies the club he preportably loves without his services. 

 

 

 

[Jacko51]

It was pointed out by the FA that Tom had breached their rules on four previous occasions. It seems he had not learned from his previous misdemeanours. 

Incidentally, not only was he give a £3.5k fine but also is having to pay the costs of the hearing. 

[Wrex]

Sure he didn't mean to cause offence but the facts are that what he said was actually anti-Semitic. Add in that it was his third (fourth?) Punishment for offensive Twittering and that there's a massive anti-racism movement going on and such a ban seemed inevitable.

I'm sure some non-Vale fans will look at it and say "six game ban for racist tweets, why not a six month ban?"