FA warns footballers of reprimands over contentious remarks on Twitter

London, July 18(ANI): The Football Association (FA) has warned football stars to avoid making any kind of contentious remarks on any social networking site like Twitter, or be prepared to face playing bans and fines as punishment.

All Premier and Football League players, managers and club officials have been sent FA letters warning against racist or offensive posts.

A number of footballers have sparked off controversy following online comments, including Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand in the wake of John Terry's recent court case.

FA chiefs have now moved to suppress outspoken players amid a torrent of complaints.

"It's one thing saying something in the dressing room as a joke and another saying it online where millions around the world can read it," The Sun quoted a source close to one of the players to whom the letter was sent, as saying.

"Hopefully this will make players think twice before they tweet," the source added.

According to the letter, players have been warned that posting 'abusive, indecent or insulting' messages may lead to disciplinary action. Comments about a person's race, colour, nationality, sexual orientation, faith or gender may face 'a higher disciplinary sanction'.

The footballers could also land in trouble for 'retweeting' messages posted by others on the network that uses 'hashtags' to mark key words, and deleting or apologizing for the tweet won't help too.

The source further said: "I think a lot of the lads use Twitter for a bit of ban ter and don't realise it's a public forum and that people may get offended. The FA have decided to crack down on it and everyone in the game has been told the guidelines." (ANI)