English left-back Marc Joel Bola, who plays for Middlesbrough, has been charged by the Football Association with ‘aggravated’ misconduct for ‘a reference to sexual orientation’ in a tweet that was posted back in 2012.
The English professional footballer Bola had allegedly made controversial comments on the social media platform nine years ago which supposedly contained ‘a reference to sexual orientation’.
FA statement read, “Middlesbrough FC’s Marc Bola has been charged with a misconduct for a breach of FA Rule E3 in relation to a social media post on April 14, 2012.” It is alleged that the post is insulting and/or abusive and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute contrary to FA Rule E3.1.
It is further alleged that this post constitutes an “aggravated breach” which is defined in FA Rule E3.2, as it included a reference to sexual orientation, the FA said. The footballer has until September 20, 2021 to provide his response to this charge.
The 23-year-old footballer was just 14 when he had posted the alleged abusive tweet nine years ago in 2012. Although the ‘offensive’ tweet is no longer available now, reportedly, it contained a ‘homophobic’ word, which caught the attention of FA officials 9 years later.
Marc Bola is a product of the Arsenal academy who debuted for Arsenal in 2016. He then played for Notts County and the Bristol Rovers on loan. Arsenal released Bola at the end of 2017-2018 season and he signed for Blackpool for a one-year contract. Bola joined Middlesbrough on July 2019 and then returned to Blackpool on a loan for the 2019-20 season.
Jarrod Bowen of West Ham was charged by the FA on similar grounds for a nine-year-old tweet when the Winger had allegedly made racist remarks. Bowen was let off with a written warning by the Football Association and told to take an education course.
