FA will look into footballer’s “fully homophobic” tweet
The FA have said they will investigate homophobic comments made on the Twitter page of Crawley Town player Hope Akpan.
At the weekend, a tweet was issued on Hope Akpan’s account which said: ‘Gays all over the tele what’s wrong with Britain! Sorry I’m #FullyHomophobic.’
Attending training the next day, he told club manager Steve Evans that the message was put up by a member of his family.
At the time, the club accepted his explanation and the comment was removed from the microblogging site.
In a statement, Mr Evans said: “I find such opinions totally unacceptable and immediately met the player. Hope confirmed that he had been made aware of the comment by a team-mate, was astonished by its content and deleted it immediately.
“Having spoken to Hope at length, I accept that the comments were added to his Twitter account by a young member of his family without Hope’s knowledge.
“The view expressed on Hope’s Twitter account are not shared by any member of the staff of Crawley Town FC. As a club we do not condone discrimination of any kind.”
However the FA has said it will look into the comment made on Akpan’s account, and it may pursue a charge against him for breaching the association’s rules on conduct.
The FA has the power to fine players for improper conduct which could lead the game into disrepute.
Yesterday, Nottingham Forest player Ishmael Miller was fined £2,500 by the FA for using expletives in a message he posted on Twitter about a game. Miller’s comments were not homophobic.
Openly gay ex-NBA player John Amaechi spoke last week about the problems of homophobia in sport.
The subject matter of Akpan’s output on Twitter is usually positive and related to football or family, with occasional remarks about television.
It remains to be seen whether he will be held accountable for the message.
The tweet’s author may have an unlikely ally in Brian Sewell, who also ranted this year about the number of gays on television.
