We today have seen the first footballer to be charged by the FA for Improper Conduct for his recent post on the social networking site Twitter.
Liverpool midfielder, Ryan Babel posted on the networking site a mocked up picture of referee Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt after Liverpool's FA Cup defeat at the hands of United on the 9th January.
The picture was also assisted with a caption saying "and they call him the best referee in the world, well thats a joke."
There will be those that say that the £10,000 fine that the winger recieved today is harsh but this will make footballers who use these sites that there every post is being watched.
The FA has certainly set a precedent for punishment for an offence like this, and I feel that they are right to do so. Despite the sites allowing for personal opinions, they are still followed by hundreds of thousends of supporters who will take these opinions of Babel and carry them on further.
I am all for Twitter and have currently joined myself and do follow footballers on there, however I feel todays decision by the FA will serve as a eye opener to any footballer thinking of posting a derogative post/picture in the future.
Of course this incident is not the first controversial moment as in the past we saw Darren Bent force a move away from Tottenham after continually posting that he wanted to leave the London side to join Sunderland.
The most recent controversy came also in the same weekend as Babel's rant, as QPR players allegedly posted comments about El Hadje Diof after he broke Jamie Mackie's leg in a bad challenge during the FA Cup tie between Blackburn and QPR.
We will no doubt however see future controversy from the site taht could eventually lead to footballers being banned from using the site..... We wait and see.
Let me know what you think about Twitter and whether you think players should be banned from using the site.
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