Dele Alli banned for the game against Manchester United and obligated to pay a hefty fine over Coronavirus controversy he got into in February.
Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli has been handed a one-match ban, by the English FA for a racially insensitive social media post, the Football Association (FA) has announced and will have to pay a hefty fine of £50,000.
Alli was charged by the FA in February over a Snapchat post that showed him in an airport mocking an Asian man in reference to coronavirus.
The video showed Alli wearing a protective facemask in an airport and was entitled, “Corona whattt, please listen with volume”. It cut to the gentleman, who appeared to be unaware he was being filmed, before panning to a bottle of antiseptic handwash.
Underneath, a caption read: “This virus gunna have to be quicker than that to catch me.” Soon, the English midfielder deleted that video and had to post an apology on Chinese social media app Weibo.
He denied his initial post was in breach of FA regulations, and as detailed in the written reasons, Alli said he videoed the man because he was coughing, not because of his ethnicity.
However, his one-game ban means he will be denied to play against Manchester United, as the Premier League will resume from next week onwards and Spurs will face the Red Devils at home.
Apart from £50,000 fine, Alli has to undertake an education course after the governing body found his actions to be “insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute” under FA Rule E3 (1).
It additionally constituted an “aggravated breach” in line with the second subsection of that rule, because “It included a reference, whether express or implied, to race and/or colour and /or ethnic origin and/or nationality”.
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Alli’s punishment is identical to the one FA handed to Bernanrdo Silva at the start of the season when the Manchester City playmaker posted a tweet that compared team-mate Benjamin Mendy to a logo produced by Conguitos, a Spanish confectionery brand, which people complained had a racial connotation.
