John Terry acquittal - Twitter reaction

The news that the Chelsea defender and former England captain John Terry has been found not guilty of racially abusing the QPR defender Anton Ferdinand during a match last year sparked a huge reaction on Twitter. Some, such as equalities activist Lee Jasper, were deeply unhappy with the verdict. Black people will now have to consider their response to racist abuse as the courts offer nothing but insults to our calls for justice. — Lee Jasper (@LeeJasper) July 13, 2012 Putting aside #Terry verdict, there is no place in society, never mind a football match, for the phrase "fucking black cunt" to be used. — Phil Moss (@philmoss5) July 13, 2012 While @Queenie_RedRose spoke for many when she tweeted: Well he might not be guilty but he's still a t***! #Terry — Sarah Richardson (@Queenie_RedRose) July 13, 2012 Meanwhile other users were wondering what happens next, and whether the FA should themselves take further action. John Terry found not guilty. Wonder if the FA will take any action given similarities to Suarez affair. — Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 13, 2012 Garth Crooks is right on @ commentisfree . FA must still censure John Terry for what he has admitted to saying bit.ly/PVldZK #JohnTerry — Political Scrapbook (@PSbook) July 13, 2012 Interesting point Terry not guilty beyond reasonable doubt. But Suarez convicted on balance of probabilities. Over to the FA — Ralph Ferrett (@ralphferrett) July 13, 2012 A Barrister based in Birmingham felt there was widespread misunderstanding of the verdict, and tweeted: He was not on trial for being a dick. He was on trial in respect of a charge for which the evidence was not strong enough. — Rosa (@rolo_d) July 13, 2012 Another user added: If the maximum penalty for alleged racism was £2,500 was it really worth the expense of a trial on such evidence? #Terry — Patrick Kidd (@patrick_kidd) July 13, 2012 There was also much interest in the industrial language of the on-field exchanges, and how this came across in court. The word c*** was written 24 times in Mr Riddle's judgment. — tariq panja (@tariqpanja) July 13, 2012 @alexhern pointed out the difficulties this presented for newspapers. Sometimes, your strict "no swears" policy loses some of the nuance of the story, @ NYTimes : twitter.com/alexhern/statu… — Alex Hern (@alexhern) July 13, 2012 No such problems here. Senior Guardian colleagues have asked @ guardianstyle for a ruling: "knobhead or nobhead"? The verdict: KNOBHEAD. — Guardian style guide (@guardianstyle) July 13, 2012 Finally, @DickMandrake - perhaps with tongue firmly in cheek - made a comparison with a Twitter cause célèbre On the plus side, it does mean the #twitterjoketrial can finally be thrown out because the defendant was also being sarcastic. — DickMandrake (@DickMandrake) July 13, 2012