English soccer player charged over anti-Semitic tweet

Soccer player Emmanual Frimpong has been charged with improper conduct by England’s Football Association after sending out a tweet with an anti-Semitic slur.

In a statement published on its website on Tuesday the FA said that “Arsenal’s Emmanuel Frimpong has been charged under FA Rule E3 for improper conduct in relation to recent comments made on Twitter”.

The statement continued that Frimpong posted “comments amounting to improper conduct and/or which brought the game into disrepute, which included a reference to ethnic origin, faith or race.”

The FA gave Frimpong until Friday to respond to the charge. He faces unspecified disciplinary action.

Ghanaian-born Frimpong, who plays for London-based Arsenal, sparked a storm of criticism when, during a heated exchange of tweets with a fan of rival team Tottenham Hotspur, Frimpong called the opposing supporter a “Scum Yid”.

Frimpong, who holds a British passport, removed the tweet shortly afterwards but not before Arsenal and Tottenham fans began spreading it over the Twitter social networking site.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was furious when he heard of the charges, the Daily Mail reported.

“When he apologised we dealt with it internally and fined him,” said Wenger according to the report. “We did what we had to do. You cannot forbid it (tweeting) because that is a restriction of freedom of speech.”

The terms “Yid” and “Yiddo” are offensive slang in Britain for Jewish people. Both monikers are used to describe Tottenham fans in the sometimes less-than-politically-correct world of soccer supporters.