Arsenal FC: Did Jack Wilshere Deserve To Get a Punishment for His Twitter Rant?

It may have come to many people's attention that over the weekend's matches Arsenal gave away a 4-0 half time lead to Newcastle, in what was one of the most spectacular comebacks the Premier League has ever seen.

Following the match, Wilshere put on his Twitter account, "Inconsistent refereeing needs to stop, it's killing the game. If Diaby goes, what's the difference between that and Nolan on our keeper?"

The Football Association looked into the comments made by Wilshere, with regards to the disrespect it showed to the match official.

The governing body of English football then decided not to punish Wilshere for his actions. Many people have since claimed that Wilshere should have received the same punishment as Ryan Babel did a short matter of weeks before.

In January, Ryan Babel tweeted a doctored picture of referee Howard Webb wearing a Manchester United kit following Liverpool's game against the league topping side. The tweet was seen as an act of disrespect towards the match official and Babel was promptly fined £10,000 for his posting.

Some people are outraged that the FA has not taken the same action against Wilshere, questioning what the difference was between the two events.

Wilshere was understandably upset at the final result, having seen his club storm into such a dominant lead in the first half. But regardless of emotion, players must still abide by the code of conduct both on and off the football pitch.

With the youngster quickly becoming an icon in English football and a role model to many younger children, the act of disrespecting a match official is frowned upon by the FA, for obvious reasons.

It was only last month that the FA warned players about the things they post on social networking sites as they are always in the public image. Despite Wilshere not being fined this time, it is expected that the FA will take action were it to happen again.