‘I don’t think John Terry is a racist, I think he said a racist thing’: Kieron Dyer DEFENDS ex-Chelsea captain over his controversial racism row with QPR team-mate Anton Ferdinand … and admits he’s heard racist remarks from white players ‘hundreds of times’

• John Terry and Anton Ferdinand clashed during a match back in October 2011
• Terry was cleared of racial abuse in court but charged and fined by The FA
• Kieron Dyer, a team-mate of Ferdinand’s in 2011, reflected on the incident 

By Jack Bezants for MailOnline

Published: 06:31 EDT, 23 June 2020 | Updated: 07:53 EDT, 23 June 2020

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England winger Nikita Parris apologised to former teammate Eniola Aluko on Wednesday for her public display of support to former England coach Mark Sampson.

The moment occurred when Parris scored for England against Russia during a match in 2017. Sampson had been accused of racially abusing Aluko and another player, Drew Spence, but Parris ran to Sampson and celebrated the goal with her boss.

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An inquiry into Sampson’s comments at the time ruled that he was guilty and was sacked from his position a day after Parris’ celebration.

Parris, who plays for Lyon in France, wrote an open letter to Aluko and posted it on her twitter page. It read: “Eni, I am sorry that my thoughtless actions caused you hurt.

“At the time I focused more on what I believed was showing unity when really it did nothing of the sort, it showed a lack of empathy, understanding and ignorance by singling out a voice who needed an ear to listen and a support system to help.

“I am now able to understand how I have been part of the problem which I aim to fight and eradicate.

“I am a proud black woman, I understand I have a social responsibility to help create change through my platform.”

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Immediately after the incident, Aluko called the celebration “naive”. She also said: “Some of them may have a special relationship with Mark Sampson and they have every right [to celebrate with him], but I think about the sensitivity at that time, and it wasn’t respectful.”

The FA sacked Sampson for what they described as “clear evidence of inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour by a coach”.

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They also apologised to Aluko and Spence, ruling that Sampson “made comments that were “discriminatory on the grounds of race”.

After England, Sampson went on to coach at League Two club Stevenage in July 2019. In September he was accused of using racist language in a coaches’ meeting. He was charged by the FA in November of that year, but in January 2020 that charge was dismissed out of court with an FA independent commission dismissing the claim.

WESTERN Bulldogs vice-captain Lachie Hunter was driven by teammate Bailey Smith from the scene of a drink-driving incident where he is alleged to have hit four parked cars on Thursday evening.

Hunter, who later blew 0.123, was taken by the second-year midfielder to teammate Billy Gowers’ house in South Yarra after the incident in Middle Park around 8.45pm.

Police arrived at the scene of the crash in Wright Street to find Hunter’s damaged SUV with the star midfielder nowhere to be seen.

He was later located at a South Yarra address – now confirmed as Gowers’ property – and given a preliminary breath test. A subsequent evidentiary breath test recorded a reading more than two times the legal blood alcohol limit.

Hunter’s car, along with two of the four cars he is alleged to have hit, was towed from the scene.

It is believed one of the cars hit by Hunter belonged to the parents of Smith’s girlfriend which became known at the time of exchanging contact details.

Alcohol was found on the front seat of Hunter’s car. 

On Friday morning he was set to be charged on summons.

The 25-year-old’s licence was suspended for 12 months, while he was also hit with a $1652 penalty notice for breaching strict social distancing directions in place to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Police confirmed two men were being investigated.

“Two other men, known to the driver involved, may be fined for breaching the directions issued by the Chief Health Officer,” the statement on Friday afternoon said.

“The matter of their involvement with the driver following the collision is being looked into.”

It was later confirmed Smith received a $1652 penalty, while Gowers received a warning.

The AFL Integrity Unit is also investigating the incident.

After departing Gowers’ house, it is understood Hunter then went to his sister’s property for the rest of the evening.  

Hunter and Gowers are close friends and last year travelled in the off-season together. 

The Dogs were scrambling for information of the incident when they were called on Friday morning.

“I can confirm there was an incident with one of our players,” Dogs president Peter Gordon told AFL.com.au.

“We’re in the process of investigating what happened and we’ll say something more when we know something more about it.”

Earlier in the night, around 7pm AEST, Hunter posted a photo on social media with a group of friends in a ‘Zoom’ video teleconferencing call. He appeared to be alone in the image.

Police provided AFL.com.au with a statement in the early hours of Friday morning. 

“Prahran Highway Patrol were called to Middle Park Thursday evening following reports a car had crashed into a number of parked cars,” the statement read.

“The crash occurred on Wright Street where it’s believed a Toyota SUV crashed into four unoccupied parked cars about 8.45pm.

“When police arrived, it was found the driver had left the scene.

“Attending police made follow up enquiries and located the 25-year-old driver at an address in South Yarra.

“The man’s licence was immediately suspended for 12 months and it is expected will be charged on summons with drink driving and other traffic matters.

“Whilst committing the offences the man was found to be in breach of the directions issued by the Chief Health Officer, and he was issued a $1652 penalty notice.

“The directions by the Chief Health Officer, under the State of Emergency declared in Victoria, have been enacted to help stop the spread of Coronavirus.”

Having served in the Dogs’ leadership group since 2018, Hunter was elevated to vice-captain in December under new skipper Marcus Bontempelli.

In March last year Hunter signed a five-year extension to remain with the Dogs until the end of 2024.

Hunter’s manager was contacted for comment.

WILLIAMSPORT – A Penn State football player accused of sexually hazing a teammate in 2018 denies the conduct occurred.

Damion Barber, a reserve defensive tackle from Harrisburg, in a filing Tuesday night in U.S. Middle District Court denies he acted in any unlawful way toward Isaiah Humphries.

Humphries, who transferred to the University of California after the 2018 season, has sued Penn State, head football coach James Franklin and Barber.

The university and Franklin, in a separate filing Wednesday, asked Judge Matthew W. Brann to dismiss Humphries’ negligence claims against them.

Humphries claims they permitted him to be the subject of harassment and hazing by other players, in disregard of the university’s written anti-hazing policy.

He alleges linebackers Micah Parsons and Jesse Luketa and defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos conspired with Barber to sexually harass him and other players in the Lasch Building.

Parsons, Luketa and Gross-Matos are not defendants in the suit, which seeks unspecified damages.

In response to the suit, Barber denied he or the others ever “orchestrated, participated in, directed and/or facilitated a campaign to harass and haze” anyone.

He further claims he was not aware of, witnessed or participated in an initiation to become or remain a member of the team as Humphries alleges.

Barber admits he was charged with violating the harassment clause of Student Code of Conduct but said Humphries was not the victim. He was not found to have committed any act of hazing, he said.

In seeking dismissal of the negligence claims, Penn State and Franklin contend they fail because:

• Courts have ruled universities, absent of exceptional circumstances not present in this case, do not owe adult students a duty of care.
• Humphries cannot demonstrate he was subjected to hazing as defined by the Pennsylvania Anti-hazing Law or its successor, the Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law.
• Since there is no dispute the university and Franklin did not perpetrate the alleged harassment, at most Humphries can claim is they failed to stop it. The anti-hazing laws impose no such duty.

Humphries alleges in early January 2018 that four of his teammates orchestrated a campaign to harass and haze other members by threats of sexual assault, stealing clothes, simulating humping action and placing their genitals on their faces and buttocks.

“His implausible theory” is not statutory hazing because freshmen cannot haze upperclassmen for the purpose of admission to or affiliation with the football team, Penn State and Franklin claim.

They also note Humphries’ suit does not state the dates on which the alleged conduct occurred or to which member of the coaching staff it was reported.

The negligent infliction of emotional distress claim should be dismissed because they say Humphries has failed to assert he suffered any physical injury as the result of the purported emotional distress.

Penn State and Franklin raised similar arguments in seeking dismissal of Humphries’ original suit. Humphries filing an amended complaint made that motion moot.

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Court records show the pleas were filed Monday morning.

RELATED: Blue Earth Teen Pleads Not Guilty to Aiding and Abetting in Felony Assault

As part of a plea agreement, Dalton Lee Nagel, 18, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting assault-third-degree substantial bodily harm, a felony, and criminal sexual conduct-fifth degree-nonconsensual contact, a gross misdemeanor.

Nagel had pleaded not guilty to the aiding and abetting charge back in March. The fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct charge was added Monday.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 9. Tonya and Dale Hurley, Colin’s parents, were in court Monday to see Nagel plead guilty.

“Obviously we knew and have always known the truth, but we needed to hear it out of his mouth,” Tonya said.

“Ever since this happened, people have tried to deny it, or minimize it, or ‘this didn’t happen,’ or ‘that didn’t happen,’ or even justify what happened, and now there is no justification,” Dale added.

 

Wyatt Eugene Tungland, of Frost, is charged with third-degree assault causing substantial bodily harm and aiding and abetting third-degree assault – both felonies. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 27.

Two juveniles allegedly involved were also charged with third-degree assault and aiding and abetting. 

The Hurley’s said the incident and its aftermath have had a profound effect on their family. Dale and Colin moved to Nebraska in January, citing backlash from some parts of the Blue Earth community. Tonya plans to make the move as well later this week.

“It feels so much more like my son was the one that was punished, and our family,” she said.

RELATED: Blue Earth Student Assault Divides Community; School Board Works to Build Trust

According to the original criminal complaint, police were notified Tungland had assaulted Colin Hurley, a former teammate on the Blue Earth Area football team, allegedly knocking him unconscious at a party in Winnebago on or about Oct. 19 of last year. Police interviewed several juveniles and created a list of persons of interest. 

Witnesses told police Tungland reportedly punched Hurley while Nagel and two others allegedly held him down. 

Hurley told police he had been in a fight with one of the juveniles, who had held him down prior to the fight. He told investigators he was attacked, pushed down and punched in the face at the party before he became unconscious, according to the criminal complaint.

Hurley showed up to football practice with his face swollen and bruised, the complaint says. He told police the juvenile with whom he was in a fight showed him a video of the attack and there was more to it. 

Hurley’s father said he has moved his son to Nebraska, telling KSTP his family just couldn’t get back to normal following the incident.

A trial is scheduled to begin in July for one of several former Wheaton College football players accused of injuring a teammate during a hazing incident.

James Cooksey, 23, of Jacksonville, Fla., had a July 10 trial date set during a hearing Thursday in DuPage County court, according to court records. He has opted for a bench trial before Judge Brian Telander.

Cooksey is one of five players who were charged in the March 2016 incident in which he and other players are alleged to have struck and then bound a fellow football player during a hazing incident. He is charged with aggravated battery, unlawful restraint and mob action.

One of the former players, Noah Spielman, pleaded guilty in March to a misdemeanor charge of battery in a plea deal with prosecutors. Spielman gave a statement under oath about his participation in the alleged hazing incident that prosecutors said could be used in the trials of the other players. Three other former players, along with Cooksey, have charges pending.

The five former players who were accused were seniors on last season’s team. After charges were filed against them in September, they were declared inactive for practices and games.

At Thursday’s hearing, the judge also said he would release medical records of the player who was targeted in the alleged hazing to the various attorneys representing the players.

During the incident, the victim allegedly suffered two torn labrums, allegedly as a result of being bound with duct tape. The defense attorneys had sought the records to see whether the victim had any pre-existing issues.

The alleged hazing incident took place the night of March 19, 2016. Freshman Charles Nagy, in a civil suit filed against the college, said he was in a dorm room watching TV when several teammates entered and tackled him. They struck him, he said, when he resisted.

The other players then bound him, put a pillowcase over his head and forced him to a pickup truck. They then drove him to a local baseball field where they kicked dirt onto him and then left him there, still bound and partially naked, according to the suit.

Nagy’s injuries required surgery, according to the suit, and he left the college soon after the incident. In his suit, Nagy said Wheaton turned a blind eye to hazing, which Wheaton denies.

Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.

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Former Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin was charged Tuesday with threatening two former teammates who had harassed him in the NFL and with threatening his former prep school classmates, Los Angeles County prosecutors said.

Martin pleaded not guilty to four felony counts of making criminal threats and a misdemeanor charge of carrying a loaded firearm, district attorney’s office spokesman Greg Risling said.

A post on Martin’s Instagram page last month showed a shotgun and referred by name to the private Harvard-Westlake prep school in Los Angeles that he once attended.

The post also included mentions of the Instagram usernames of former Miami Dolphins players Richie Incognito and Mike Pouncey and said suicide and revenge were the only options for a victim of bullying.

Martin left the Dolphins midseason in 2013 after accusing teammates of bullying. An NFL investigation found that Incognito, Pouncey and teammate John Jerry engaged in persistent harassment directed at Martin.

Incognito was suspended for the final eight games and sat out the 2014 season before joining the Buffalo Bills.

Pouncey was released by Miami last week and agreed to a two-year contract Monday with the Los Angeles Chargers

The NFL’s investigation also found that teammates threatened to rape Martin’s sister, called him a long list of slurs and bullied him for not being “black enough.” Martin is black and Incognito is white.

Court documents say Martin “did willfully and unlawfully threaten to commit a crime which would result in death and great bodily injury” of Pouncey and Incognito. Both Pouncey and Incognito feared for their own safety and the safety of their families, the documents said.

Prosecutors said Martin also had a loaded firearm in his vehicle in Glendale, but court papers provided no other details.

The name of Martin’s attorney was not immediately known. Prosecutors said he is due back in court next month and faces up to six years in prison if he’s convicted.

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More AP NFL: https://pro32.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP—NFL

The attorney for a former Wheaton College football player who authorities say was the victim of a hazing by five other players turned over his client’s medical records to a DuPage County judge Wednesday.

The records were sought by attorneys representing the five players, who are charged with aggravated battery and other crimes. But Terry Ekl, attorney for the ex-player, said the defense attorneys were “trying to create an issue that doesn’t exist.”

Authorities allege the five players injured the other player during a hazing incident in March 2016. The other player has since left Wheaton College.

At a court appearance last month, defense attorneys requested the medical records of the former player, who authorities say suffered shoulder injuries during the alleged incident. Evidence of a pre-existing injury could bolster the case for the accused players — Kyler Kregel, Noah Spielman, Samuel TeBos, Benjamin Pettway and James Cooksey.

At a hearing Wednesday, Ekl gave the records over to Judge Brian Telander.

“We’re willing to turn these over because they don’t show anything,” Ekl said afterward. “There’s no pre-existing shoulder injury.”

The judge will inspect the medical records and then share anything deemed relevant with the defense attorneys.

Meanwhile, attorney Paul Moreschi, who represents one of the players, asked the court to allow him to subpoena a dozen other people or organizations that had contact with the player who was allegedly hazed.

Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Pawl asked for additional time to review the defense request to see whether prosecutors would seek to object. The judge set a status date for March 21.

The five players are accused of aggravated battery, unlawful restraint and mob action. Authorities say they restrained and beat their teammate, a freshman, as part of a hazing incident. The player’s arms were bound so tightly with duct tape that he suffered muscle tears in both shoulders that later required surgery, authorities said.

After the alleged incident, the player left Wheaton College and transferred to a school in Indiana.

Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.

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Last of 5 Wheaton College football players accused of hazing pleads not guilty »

Judge partially lifts gag order in case of Wheaton College athletes accused of hazing »

Judge: No cameras at hearings for Wheaton College football players accused of hazing »

The attorney for a former Wheaton College football player who authorities say was the victim of a hazing by five other players turned over his client’s medical records to a DuPage County judge Wednesday.

The records were sought by attorneys representing the five players, who are charged with aggravated battery and other crimes. But Terry Ekl, attorney for the ex-player, said the defense attorneys were “trying to create an issue that doesn’t exist.”

Authorities allege the five players injured the other player during a hazing incident in March 2016. The other player has since left Wheaton College.

At a court appearance last month, defense attorneys requested the medical records of the former player, who authorities say suffered shoulder injuries during the alleged incident. Evidence of a pre-existing injury could bolster the case for the accused players — Kyler Kregel, Noah Spielman, Samuel TeBos, Benjamin Pettway and James Cooksey.

At a hearing Wednesday, Ekl gave the records over to Judge Brian Telander.

“We’re willing to turn these over because they don’t show anything,” Ekl said afterward. “There’s no pre-existing shoulder injury.”

The judge will inspect the medical records and then share anything deemed relevant with the defense attorneys.

Meanwhile, attorney Paul Moreschi, who represents one of the players, asked the court to allow him to subpoena a dozen other people or organizations that had contact with the player who was allegedly hazed.

Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Pawl asked for additional time to review the defense request to see whether prosecutors would seek to object. The judge set a status date for March 21.

The five players are accused of aggravated battery, unlawful restraint and mob action. Authorities say they restrained and beat their teammate, a freshman, as part of a hazing incident. The player’s arms were bound so tightly with duct tape that he suffered muscle tears in both shoulders that later required surgery, authorities said.

After the alleged incident, the player left Wheaton College and transferred to a school in Indiana.

Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.