[Arcane Astral Aeons]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43937329

nice one Burnley

[BaggieSteve]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43937329

nice one Burnley

I just think Chris Hughton has made a story out of nothing. Players get harangued and heckled all the time - i was at Newcastle to see the reception Maclean got as an ex- Mackem and he didn't react at all, neither did his manager. Chris Hughton might not have liked the booing but, by raising it, he's made nothing into something.

[Stairs]

Hughton is not the sharpest tool in the box.

Most significant thing for me is that Bong is still saying he was racially abused, despite no evidence and despite the ruling.

He is still insinuating via tweets and statements that that J Rod said something.

I think J has a case for defamation of character if this does not stop.

[Zinman]

Hughton seems to ignore the fact that Bong has essentially publicly accused JRod of lying. He should have accepted the verdict and kept his mouth shut - he chose not to and can't be surprised at the reception he's now getting.

[Worldclassalbion]

Racist abuse is unacceptable in every walk of life, HOWEVER The FA bottled it.

They said ‘not proven’ instead of it wasn’t said the way Bong thought it had. 2lip reading experts say he didn’t use racist comments and Bongs testimony at first was he didn’t use the word black when informing the referee. The refs report differed from Bongs too.

It’s very easy to accuse someone of being racist, sexist or homophobic because no evidence whatsoever is needed for the accusation to be pursued by the governing bodies or law enforcement and people’s reputations get smeared.

The FA should have said innocent of the charge not ‘Not Proven’.

If I was racially abused in the street and it didn’t bother me but a passerby heard the comments they could make a complaint to the Police because even though it was nothing to do with them they perceived it to be so. The offender gets arrested without the actual Recipient of the abuse getting involved, questioned and dealt with accordingly.

[St Charles Owl]

Racist abuse is unacceptable in every walk of life, HOWEVER The FA bottled it.

They said ‘not proven’ instead of it wasn’t said the way Bong thought it had. 2lip reading experts say he didn’t use racist comments and Bongs testimony at first was he didn’t use the word black when informing the referee. The refs report differed from Bongs too.

Actually the lip reading experts did not say he didn't use racist comments, they both stated that there wasn't a camera angle that allowed them to be able to lip read what was said. Here is an exert from the Beeb on what was stated by the FA:

In the reasons explaining its verdict, the FA said the "essential issue for us boiled down to one question - are we satisfied the player [Rodriguez] probably said to GB [Gaetan Bong]: "You're black and you stink'?

It said the two lip-reading experts "could not help" on this "core issue".

"The player's mouth was obscured, and neither could see sufficient to interpret his moving lips," the FA said.

Essentially the FA ended up in a situation where one player said he heard one thing and the other player stated he said something else - it came down to a he said, she said, and in the absence of any other evidence the not proven verdict worked for both parties. The couldn't prove Jay said anything racist and they couldn't prove what Bong claimed he heard was incorrect. Not sure there was any other conclusion they could come to in this case.

[4evaabaggie]

SCO, your right, with the evidence available they could not prove beyond reason doubt that he said what was alleged, therefore he should have been found not guilty, not proven IS a cop out so as to avoid offending the pink and fluffy card playing brigade who get upset on behalf of other people, who call people racist, sexist, homophobic, etc etc because it suits their political agendas, it has allowed the situation where Bong can carry on bad mouthing Jay on social media platforms rather than have the issue put to bed .........

Racism is abhorrent, but so is using it as a political football to suit your own agenda ..... positive discrimination is just as damaging as other forms of racism ...... it leads to acquisitions that you only got 1, 2 ,3 because of A, B, C not because your the best person for the role etc etc ......

If there's evidence he's guilty, if there's no evidence he's not guilty no other option is acceptable ......

[St Charles Owl]

SCO, your right, with the evidence available they could not prove beyond reason doubt that he said what was alleged, therefore he should have been found not guilty, not proven IS a cop out so as to avoid offending the pink and fluffy card playing brigade who get upset on behalf of other people, who call people racist, sexist, homophobic, etc etc because it suits their political agendas, it has allowed the situation where Bong can carry on bad mouthing Jay on social media platforms rather than have the issue put to bed .........

Racism is abhorrent, but so is using it as a political football to suit your own agenda ..... positive discrimination is just as damaging as other forms of racism ...... it leads to acquisitions that you only got 1, 2 ,3 because of A, B, C not because your the best person for the role etc etc ......

If there's evidence he's guilty, if there's no evidence he's not guilty no other option is acceptable ......

I get what you are saying but on the other hand a not guilty verdict would leave the FA in a position where they were essentially calling Bong a liar, and they couldn't do that either with the evidence in front of them. You are Albion fans, you will tend to lean towards supporting your player but equally Bong was backed by his club as regards his character just as Rodriguez was by WBA, he has no history of making these sort of claims and he is adamant about what he thinks he heard, just as Rodriguez is adamant about what he said.

This isn't a court of law where they have to reach a definitive verdict, and lets not forget that Rodriguez was never charged with anything by the FA other than the need to appear before a committee that was investigating the claim made by Bong. This claim was not proven by that committee, you are right that should have been the end of it.

[BaggieSteve]

I agree St Charles. We all tend to get a bit tribal when one of our own is under attack and I think that's applied to Baggies, Brighton and Burnley fans in this case. I think Bong genuinely felt he was being racially abused, and Rodriguez genuinely didn't say it but that doesn't mean Bong deliberately set out to defame a fellow professional. So I don't hold with suggestions that he should now be charged with making a spurious accusation against Rodriguez. What I think should happen is that everyone involved should move on; Rodriguez clearly has, understandably, but I think Bong and Hughton need to as well. As crass as Burnley fans were on Saturday, I think they should have ignored it, I'm guessing it didn't have any real impact upon his performance.