It's lengthy, but a very interesting read as it reveals exactly what transpired as put forward to the Commission by both sides.
Part 1
IN THE MATTER OF AN INDEPENDENT REGULATORY COMMISSION OF THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION BETWEEN:
THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION
The Association - and - GIUSEPPE BELLUSCI Participant ___________________________________________________________
WRITTEN REASONS FOR THE DECISION OF THE INDEPENDENT REGULATORY COMMISSION FOLLOWING THE HEARING ON 5TH FEBRUARY 2015 ___________________________________________________________
1. BACKGROUND 1.1 On 21st October 2014, Norwich City FC played Leeds United FC in a Football League Championship fixture at Carrow Road, Norwich. 1.2 In or about the 20th minute of the match, an incident occurred between the Norwich striker, Cameron Jerome, and the Leeds central defender, Giuseppe Bellusci.
There had been no interaction between the pair prior to that point. The altercation began when Norwich won its first corner of the game. Mr. Bellusci was marking Mr. Jerome. There was some jostling between the pair at the corner, and an exchange of words. After the ball was partially cleared by a Leeds’ player, Mr. Jerome put his leg out in an attempt to impede Mr. Bellusci’s progress away from the Leeds’ goal. Norwich won the ball back and commenced another attack.
Mr. Jerome made further physical contact with Mr. Bellusci, pushing or grabbing him from behind. 2 1.3 It is at this point that abusive words of a racist nature are alleged to have been said by Mr. Bellusci that have given rise to these disciplinary proceedings against him.
The attention of the match referee, Mark Clattenburg, was drawn to the altercation between the two players and he stopped the game. Mr. Jerome complained to Mr. Clattenburg that Mr. Bellusci had called him (Mr. Jerome), a “negro". 1.4 After speaking to Mr. Jerome, Mr. Clattenburg approached the touchline on the bench side of the pitch. Mr. Jerome followed him. Mr. Clattenburg spoke with the Norwich Manager, Neil Adams, and the Leeds United Assistant Manager, Novica Nikcevic.
The Fourth Official, Darren Drysdale, was also present. Mr. Clattenburg informed those present that Mr. Jerome had made an allegation that he had been racially abused by Mr. Bellusci. Mr. Clattenburg asked Mr. Drysdale to take a note of the allegation. Mr. Jerome then repeated the allegation using the same Italian words that he had used when he first complained to Mr. Clattenburg on the pitch, and also repeating the word “negro".
Mr. Clattenburg said that he would address the matter at half-time so that it could be reported to The Football Association (“The FA"), but as he had not heard the comments he could not take any action. 1.5 Mr. Clattenburg then returned to the pitch and isolated Mr. Bellusci and the Leeds’ captain, Jason Pearce. At this stage, the evidence of both Mr. Clattenburg and Mr. Bellusci is that the latter was only told in a general way that an allegation had been made that he had racially abused someone.
Commission reasons for Bellusci verdict
posted on 20/2/15
Part 2
The precise abusive word that he is alleged to have used was not identified. The significance of this will be returned to in due course. 1.6 Shortly after the match re-started, Mr. Clattenburg cautioned Mr. Jerome for raising his arm towards the face of Mr. Bellusci. 3 1.7 At half-time, Mr. Clattenburg invited Mr. Jerome to enter the Match Officials’ dressing-room where the latter repeated his allegation to all four Officials. Also in attendance were representatives of both Clubs. Mr. Bellusci was not invited to attend as Mr. Clattenburg decided not to involve him at this stage.
There was insufficient time during the half-time interval for a record to be made of Mr. Jerome’s version of events. 1.8 At the conclusion of the match, the same people who had attended the meeting at half-time – again not including Mr. Bellusci - were invited back into the Match Officials’ dressing-room. Mr. Jerome repeated his account of what had happened. Mr. Drysdale was asked to write down the words that Mr. Jerome alleged Mr. Bellusci had used, including those spoken in Italian, so that they could be included in Mr. Clattenburg’s report to The FA. 1.9 The undisputed evidence before the Regulatory Commission was that Mr. Bellusci did not become aware of the precise nature of the racially-abusive word that he was alleged to have used, namely “negro”, until he was on the team bus for the return journey to Leeds.
He was informed of it by English speaking team mates. 1.10 An Extraordinary Incident Report was prepared, dated 22nd October 2014 (i.e. the day after the match). It was approved of and signed by Mr. Clattenburg. Nothing turns on whether the report was prepared by him or on his behalf by Mr. Drysdale in his capacity as fourth official (the latter being customary practice). The Report contains the following record of events:
“Cameron Jerome informed me “I have been racially abused man!!”. I isolated the player and asked him to repeat the words used. He informed me that the words used were “Vaffanculo, testa di catzo (sic) and Negro”. 4 He repeated the word Negro on two occasions and there was (sic) words used before and after the word Negro but Cameron Jerome could not recall what these words were” (emphasis added). 1.11 Upon receipt of the Extraordinary Incident Report, the allegation was investigated by The FA and tape-recorded interviews were conducted of both Mr. Bellusci and Mr. Jerome, on 10th November 2014 and 4th December 2014 respectively.
A formal witness statement had been prepared on behalf of Mr. Jerome, and was signed by him, prior to his interview. The statement is dated 6th November 2014. 1.12 During his interview, Mr. Bellusci alleged that during the exchange that had taken place between them, he had told Mr. Jerome in the little English that he knew: “Leave me, **** off”. The ball was then cleared and as Mr. Bellusci was following the ball Mr. Jerome grabbed him from behind on the neck, or on the collar. At this, Mr. Bellusci claims to have said to Mr. Jerome in Italian: “… ti faccio un’occhio nero, pezzo di merda.” Translated into English, the above words mean: “I will give you a black eye you piece of ****” (the word “nero” meaning black). 1.13 When questioned during interview, Mr. Bellusci initially denied using the words, “vaffanculo” or “testa di cazzzo”. Later on, he conceded that it was possible that he had used those words, he could not remember perfectly.
He said that they were “quite light” in Italian. As has been noted, he claims that he told Mr. Jerome to “**** off” in English. 5 1.14 Throughout the lengthy interview of him, Mr. Bellusci denied that he had used the word “negro” and asserted that he had used the word “nero” on only one occasion and in the context set out above. He alleged that Mr. Jerome was motivated to make the allegation to try and get him (Mr. Bellusci) sent off. Mr. Bellusci was “100% I never used the word ‘negro’”
. 1.15 In order to avoid repetition, the key aspects of Mr. Jerome’s interview will be set out in the Commission’s overall analysis of the evidence, including that given at the hearing. Suffice it to say that he maintained his claim that he had heard Mr. Bellusci use the word “negro”. He acknowledged that “negro” and “nero” sounded so similar that there was “obviously a chance” that he could have confused the two, but that he had not. He was “100%” sure that Mr. Bellusci had not said “nero”. 1.16 By letter dated 22nd December 2014, Mr. Bellusci was charged by The FA with misconduct for a breach of FA Rule E3(1) for using abusive and/or insulting words towards Mr. Jerome arising out of the incident in question. The charge letter further alleged that the breach was Aggravated, as defined in Rule E3(2), as it included a reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race. 1.17 Mr. Bellusci denied the charge and requested a personal hearing before a Regulatory Commission. 2.
posted on 20/2/15
Part 3
THE HEARING BEFORE THE COMMISSION 2.1 It follows from the background facts that the narrow factual issue the Commission had to decide was whether Mr. Bellusci had used the word “negro” on one or more occasions during his exchange with Mr. Jerome, or whether the word that he used on a single occasion was “nero”.
There was no dispute that the word “negro” was both insulting and racially abusive. If we found that that insult had been used, an Aggravated Breach of FA Rule E3(1) would be established pursuant to Rule E3(2). 6 2.2 The FA bore the burden of proving the misconduct charge, the relevant standard of proof being the balance of probabilities. Having regard to the serious nature of the charge, the Commission paid particular attention to the cogency of the evidence relied upon in support of it. 2.3 The Commission only heard oral evidence from Mr. Jerome and Mr. Bellusci (the latter’s evidence being translated by an Interpreter appointed by The FA). The witness statements of the Match Officials were taken as read. None of them had heard the exchange in question and the relevance of their evidence went to the contemporaneous nature of the allegation that Mr. Jerome reported to them, together with the consistency of his recollections. At an early stage of the hearing, the prospect was raised of further witnesses being called to speak to the question of consistency of both Mr. Jerome and Mr. Bellusci.
In the event, the further evidence did not materialise. 2.4 On behalf of Mr. Bellusci, Mr. Bromley Martin QC acknowledged at the outset of his cross-examination of him that there was no question other than that Mr. Jerome honestly believed that he had been racially abused. Instead, Mr. Bellusci’s case was that Mr. Jerome had misheard or misinterpreted what the former had said. 2.5 It became apparent during the course of his evidence, that Mr. Jerome’s understanding of Italian was much more shaky and incomplete than the sense conveyed by his initial reporting to the Match Officials of the words that he attributed to Mr. Bellusci.
Mr. Jerome had learned some ‘choice’ Italian words during his time at Cardiff City from an Italian player whom he had befriended. The difficulties in his understanding of Italian emerged in the following manner: 7 (i) “Vaffanculo” (a) At the time of the incident itself, Mr. Jerome understood the Italian word “vaffanculo” to mean “**** off” in English. In the statement that he signed some two weeks later, he said that he understood the word to mean ““you mother-****er” or “your mum’s a wwhore” – something like that in Italian”. (ii) An audio recording of Mr. Bellusci saying: “vaffanculo vaffanculo” was played to Mr. Jerome during his interview.
posted on 20/2/15
Thank you for posting
posted on 20/2/15
Cheers for posting
We move on.
posted on 20/2/15
This bit made me laugh:
he understood the word to mean ““you mother-****er” or “your mum’s a wwhore” – something like that in Italian”. (ii) An audio recording of Mr. Bellusci saying: “vaffanculo vaffanculo” was played to Mr. Jerome during his interview.
It's almost as if the interviewers were allowing Bellusci to insult Jerome repeatedly without actually doing it in person! LOL
I hope they gave Jerome the recording to him to listen to at his leisure...