The Football Association have published their written reasons for Edinson Cavani’s charge, and subsequent three-match ban for misconduct, suggesting they were ‘surprised’ Manchester United had not given the player social media training.
Cavani was charged over the use of the word ‘negrito’ in an Instagram post, made in the wake of his two goals for United in their 3-2 victory over Southampton in November. He was addressing friend Mr Pablo Fernandez and deleted the post as soon as its potentially racist context was pointed out to him.
In a detailed document about the charge, which has seen Cavani suspended from United’s recent home games against Aston Villa and Man City — plus this weekend’s FA Cup clash with Watford — the FA have outlined the reason for the ban.
They cited Cavani’s aggravated breach of FA Rule E3, which states a player should “act in the best interests of the game and shall not act in any manner which is improper or brings the game into disrepute or use any one, or any combination of, violent conduct, serious foul play, abusive, indecent or insulting words or behaviour.”
The FA also questioned why United had not given the player more social media guidance.
They said: “Having signed for Manchester United in early October 2020, the player had received no media training specific to his residence in this country [sic] to enable him to be better placed to understand the cultural differences that might give rise to issues with a foreign player posting information on a social media platform.
“In light of the player’s high profile in the game, his inability to speak English and the fact that he had approaching 8 million Instagram followers, the Commission were surprised that no such ‘training’ had been specifically put in place for the player by his club.”
Account was taken for the fact Cavani used the word in an affectionate manner towards a friend, as well as its context in his native Uruguay. The Uruguayan national squad have since accused the FA of cultural insensitivity and called for Cavani’s ban for be overturned.
United did not echo that demand, however, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer agreeing that Cavani’s Instagram post was wrong, albeit unintentionally so. As well as the ban, the 33-year-old was fined £100,000 and told to attend face-to-face education after admitting the charge.
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