Burnley striker Andre Gray has been handed a four-game ban by the English Football Association after a hearing over misconduct charges stemming from a series of homophobic Twitter posts from 2012.
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Gray, now 25, was charged by the FA in August, three days after the posts were brought to light, the same day he scored his first PL goal in a 2-0 upset of Liverpool.
Said Burnley, on the club’s official site:Gray was found guilty of six aggravated breaches of FA Rule E3(1) regarding comments deemed to be “abusive and/or insulting and/or improper and/or bringing the game into disrepute”.
The breaches also included reference to an “aggravating factor”, namely, sexual orientation and/or gender and/or colour and/or race contrary to FA Rule E3(2).
Gray admitted three of the breaches, but denied a further three. However, following the Independent Regulatory Commission hearing, on Thursday, September 22, these three were found proven.
In the above linked statement, Burnley have said the club and the player accept the FA’s decision, and they will not appeal. Gray will also pay a fine of £25,000 ($32,000) and has been “ordered to attend a one-to-one FA education course.”
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Gray came forth with a public apology the day he was charged by the FA, part of which read, “I have a lot of regrets regarding a number of things I’ve done in the past and realize I have made some big mistakes, none more so than these tweets, but I would like to stress that I’ve worked incredibly hard to completely transform my life since that time.”
