Rio Ferdinand says he still does not speak to John Terry, who was accused of racially abusing younger brother Anton in 2012.
Ferdinand was asked if the pair had made up in the intervening years, and replied: “No, no,” before adding: “The problem is that we did it from pure heart.
“Our hearts were pure in this situation but not everyone is like that. So when your heart is pure and you don’t speak you get punished. I’ve worked that out now.
“You’re the ones who get punished and tarnished. The ones who get labelled. Whether that is because you don’t speak, whether that’s because you’re black, I don’t know but now I would speak straight away. My brother, I would say, ‘Speak, speak.'”
READ ALSO
QPR’s Anton reported being racially abused in a league fixture in 2011, and Terry – then of Chelsea – was later found not guilty in a court case, although he was subsequently found guilty by the FA, banned for four matches and fined £220,000.
Anton Ferdinand of Queens Park Rangers walks past John Terry (2nd L) of Chelsea without shaking his hand before the start of their English Premier League soccer match at Loftus Road in London, September 15, 2012 (Reuters) Image credit: Reuters
Rio – then of Manchester United – was left out of England’s Euro 2012 squad – but he says now that he wished he had spoken out earlier.
“If I could rewind back the clock now I would have spoken out from day one and I’d say to my brother, ‘speak now and say it,'” he admitted.
