John Terry: English Star Found Not Guilty of Racism Charges

Chelsea defender John Terry was accused of using a racial slur against Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a match on Oct. 23, 2011, but he has been found not guilty on the racial abuse file levied against him, according to Mirror Football.

The 31-year-old English star maintained that he was simply repeating the racial slur sarcastically after Ferdinand accused him of saying it. Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle and the court believed Terry's explanation was good enough—Mirror Football is reporting that there wasn't enough evidence to find Terry guilty.

The former English soccer captain is no stranger to controversy.

He was involved in an extra-marital affair  and cited for a number of nightclub brawls as well. Perhaps the Ferdinand situation was the most serious of them all, but Terry sufficiently convinced the decision makers involved that this was simply a misunderstanding.

Even if Terry is truly innocent as the verdict indicates, you can't blame the soccer world for taking umbrage with what went down. Racism is a huge issue in soccer currently as there seem to be new reports of racist crowds and players on a weekly basis.

It was something that clouded Euro 2012 in a lot of ways, and there is no room for it in soccer or the world in general. There is no such thing as being too strict when it comes to racist claims, so Terry deserved what he had coming to him. Regardless of the semantics surrounding the case, hopefully this will.

Terry and others need to be more mindful of what they say moving forward.

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