Tweet
17 August 2012 Last updated at 12:35 GMT
Share this page 1.3K
Rio Ferdinand fined for 'choc ice' tweet
Rio Ferdinand has been found guilty of improper conduct and fined £45,000 by the Football Association for comments on Twitter.
The defender denied he was being racist after responding to a tweet describing Chelsea's Ashley Cole as a "choc ice".
What does 'choc ice' mean?
John Amaechi Former NBA basketball player, psychologist and educator "It is the idea that a black person is black only in skin colour but inside they are really white. It's a highly derogatory term. It's a dangerous term because it allows black boys especially but black people in general, to believe that there is a way of being black that is somehow distinct from being white. There are people that think if you don't wear a certain type of clothing or listen to a certain type of music you're not really black. It's a really dangerous thing. There are black boys who do less well in school because they believe by doing well there, they are acting white. To me, this is devastating for black boys and black people everywhere. It's a deeply offensive term with racial connotations."
But an independent commission ruled the Manchester United centre-half had brought the game into disrepute.
"The commission found that the breach included a reference to ethnic origin, colour or race," read an FA statement.
Ferdinand was also warned as to his future conduct. Manchester United have decided against appealing the decision.
The term relates to the black and white nature of a choc ice and can imply someone is being black on the outside and white on the inside.
The tweet appeared on Ferdinand's timeline after Chelsea and England left-back Cole appeared in court as a defence witness for team-mate John Terry , who was cleared of racially abusing Ferdinand's younger brother, Anton, in a game against QPR on 23 October last year.
Terry has since been charged with improper conduct by the FA for the alleged comments he made to Anton Ferdinand, a charge he has vowed to contest.
Terry, 31, is alleged to have used "abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour" during the game.