#costly: Ferdinand faces Twitter backlash
October 29, 2014
Rio Ferdinand has nearly #link:https://twitter.com/RioFerdy5:6 million fans on Twitter#. That means every time he fires off a thought condensed down to 140 characters, he's likely going to reach a lot of people, which exactly what landed him in hot water with England's Football Association on Wednesday.
The English FA decided to ban Ferdinand for three games and fine him 25,000 pounds ($40,300, 32,000 euro) for a tweet in which the Queens Park Rangers defender referred to the mother of another twitter user as a "sket," a derogatory term for a promiscuous woman.
Ferdinand has been fined for tweets before. In 2012, he had to pay 45,000 pounds for comments made on the social networking site about Ashley Cole, who played for rivals Chelsea at the time.
Once a member of the English national team, the 35-year-old Ferdinand has been warming the bench of late for QPR. The ban means he'll miss the club's next matches against Chelsea, Manchester City, and Newcastle.
jw,mz/al (AP, Reuters, dpa)