Tom Pope who is a striker for Port Vale is facing a ban for his social media tweet. The tweet was deemed as antisemitic and he could face further charges besides the two-game suspensions he already received.
The striker threw his followers in shock when he took to his social media to celebrate a goal for the fourth-tier club. The goal was special for Pope bing it was against Manchester City in the third round FA cup tie back in January. Pope, moved City defender John Stones in a tweet, claiming he would have no problem scoring 40 goals a week if he had to face to the England International every week. He later added to the tweet saying, 40 goals we’re too small and it would be ”more like 50.”
Tom Pope received two one-game suspensions for his tweet but that didn’t stop the striker from striking again in more tweets which he tweeted just last month. The 34-year-old was said a question by a fan to “predict the WWIII result”, and rather than him to ignore the fan, Pope decided to reply and wrote: “We invade Iran then Cuba then North Korea then the Roth(s) children are crowned champions of every bank on the planet.”
After receiving much backlash for his tweet, Pope deleted the tweet and insisted he had no knowledge that the tweet could be perceived as anti-Semitic. This has led to an investigation by both the Football Association and a club investigation.
The Football Association released a statement saying Pope had been charged with an “aggravated breach” of FA rule E3.
The governing body said such a breach “is defined in FA Rule E3(2), as it included a reference, whether expressed or implied, to race and/or religion and/or ethnic origin”.
After deleting the tweet, Pope issued a statement apologizing for any offense it may have caused. His tweet read, ”Following the reaction to my response on Twitter about the Rothschilds, I was unaware of any link between the Roth(s)child family and the Jewish community. If I have caused offense to anyone, I’d like to apologize enormously as this was never my intention.”
If charged by the Football Association he would face suspension up to 2 years. He is also expected to pay a fine £1,500 for his earlier offense in comments made against Stones.
