Tottenham's Dele Alli banned for one match over COVID-19 post
Tottenham Hotspur will miss the services of mid-fielder Dele Alli against Manchester United when Premier League 2019-20 season resumes next week. The England player has been suspended for one match by the Football Association over a post on social media about coronavirus. Alli put a video on Snapchat in February in which he joked about the outbreak and appeared to mock an Asian man.
What was the content in the video?
According to a report in the BBC, the video posted by the mid-fielder showed him wearing a face mask in an airport lounge, before the camera moved to show a man of Asian appearance. It then zoomed in on a bottle of an antiseptic handwash. The England international has been fined £50,000 and ordered to undertake an education course.
It was an extremely poorly judged joke: Alli
In a statement, Alli said: "In response to the FA decision, I would like to apologize again for any offence caused by my behaviour." "It was an extremely poorly judged joke about a virus that has now affected us more than we could ever have imagined." In his hearing, Alli said the video may cause an upset and deleted it before catching his flight.
Premier League set to return on June 17
The Premier League is set to return on June 17 after the 20 clubs agreed to come back that week in last month's video conference. The official date proposed and agreed upon is June 20, however, the competition has to complete two games in hand on June 17. There are 92 fixtures still to play. Tottenham are eighth at the moment in the standings.
Alli says he despises racism of any kind
"I'm grateful that the FA has confirmed that my actions were not racist because I despise racism of any kind. We all need to be mindful of the words and actions we use and how they can be perceived by others," the statement added.
