PFA defends Ryan Babel Twitter joke

The Professional Footballer's Association chief executive Gordon Taylor has questioned the Football Association's decision to charge Liverpool's Ryan Babel over his Twitter post on Sunday, suggesting they lack a sense of humour and have "much more serious" issues to focus on such as the assault on the Stevenage player Scott Laird.

Babel was charged with improper conduct for posting a picture and comments about the referee Howard Webb on Twitter after Sunday's FA Cup defeat at Manchester United. He sent out a mocked-up picture of the World Cup final referee wearing a Manchester United shirt and also wrote: "And they call him one of the best referees? That's a joke. SMH [shaking my head]." Babel, who has yet to respond to the charge, later apologised via his Twitter account.

"Where's our sense of humour gone in our game?" Taylor said. "He's apologised, let's move on. "I would think that Howard Webb is a big enough man, a big enough person and good enough referee to take it.

"To my mind, and to most footballers' minds, it is the same sort of stuff that flies about every weekend via mobile phones, but they are obviously taking a stance on it. I thought a warning would have been sufficient." [Read more…]

Source: Guardian UK

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