x
x
x
x

Thu, November 14, 2019

Bernardo Silva handed ban and fine for Benjamin Mendy tweet

Bernardo Silva handed ban and fine for Benjamin Mendy tweet

Bernardo Silva has been banned for one match and fined £50,000 for a tweet which compared his Manchester City team mate, Benjamin Mendy to a character on a packet of Conguitos, which is a brand of chocolate readily available in both Spain and Portugal.

The tweet comparing Mendy to the character was deleted just 45 minutes after being posted before Silva posted a second tweet complaining that he “can’t even joke with a friend anymore”. Mendy stated that he took no offence to the tweet and saw it as a joke with a friend whilst fellow City team mate Raheem Sterling and manager Pep Guardiola both came out in defence of Silva saying that he is a nice person who had no intention to cause offence by sending out the tweet.

Silva accepted the initial charge which meant that there was no need for an official hearing with the Portuguese international also accepting that some people may be offended by the “historical connotations of the Conguitos character”. The FA Commission stated that many would have taken offence to the tweet but did acknowledge that Silva had not meant for the tweet to be either offensive or racist and had simply meant for it to be a joke between good friends.

The Commission explained that some punishment had to be handed out as the joke was not in private between the two friends but rather on a very public platform which could potentially be viewed by millions of people, potentially causing offence to a great number of individuals. The reason that a harsher penalty, such as a larger fine and potential six game ban, was not given is because it was accepted that no offence or racism was intended, Mendy wrote a letter supporting and defending his team mate, Silva deleted the tweet promptly before accepting the charge and also coupled with the fact that Silva had an exemplary record before this issue and he has worked with Manchester City  to improve his understanding of social media responsibilities. Silva has also been tasked with completing face to face education on the matters at hand.

Manchester City has commented that they will not appeal the punishment but do believe that the punishment is unduly harsh as no offence was intended or caused to Mendy. The one match ban will result in Bernardo Silva missing the Premier League match at home against Chelsea on 23rd November.

You can read the FA statement here.

Share

Recent News Articles

Fri, June 02, 2023

More than two dozen Canadian sporting organisations call on Trudeau to launch a national inquiry

More than two dozen Canadian sporting organisations and activist groups have called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to launch a national inquiry into the toxic culture of abuse in sport in the country. 

Read More

Wed, May 31, 2023

FA plans to dock points for incidents of abuse or discrimination in grassroots football

The Football Association (FA) has announced plans to dock grassroots clubs points if there are any incidents of abuse or discrimination. 

Read More

Tue, May 30, 2023

UK Anti-Doping v Nicky Watt

A decision in the case of UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) against Nicky Watt has been issued by the National Anti-Doping Panel

Read More