Frimpong charged over Twitter comments

Ghana-born midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong has been charged with improper conduct by the English FA relating to recent comments on Twitter.

The 20-year-old, who plays for Arsenal, responded to a Tottenham fan on 15 July and although he shortly removed the comment from the social networking site, it has not escaped the attention of the FA.

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

“The allegation is 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 player has until 4pm on 27 July 2012 to respond to the charge.”

After posting a message on his official Twitter account which read “if you going church today Pray For me Giving today A Miss”, the Gunners midfielder re-tweeted a response from one Tottenham fan which read: “I prayed you break your arms and legs”, to which Frimpong replied “@ Scum Yid”.

It sparked a mass debate on the social network site among supporters from both Arsenal and Tottenham.

One was re-tweeted by Frimpong, which read: “You can’t go around wanting players to break limbs, no matter who you play for.Embarrassed to be a yid right now!”

The term has been used for decades to identify Tottenham supporters because of the proportion of Jewish supporters at the north London club.

Last year, the comedian David Baddiel launched a campaign to stamp out use of the word in football chants, which can be viewed as anti-Semitic.

However, many Spurs fans use the term “Yid army” themselves as a badge of honour and claim they are not offended by it.