'Innocent until proven guilty' is an adage that we should all live by. But when the 'innocent' party is caught on camera blatantly committing an offence, only to deny it, we enter something of a grey area.
John Terry is possibly innocent of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand. Most likely he is guilty as sin, but let's put that to one side. The fact is, while the accusations against him remain unproven either way, he represents a presence in the England side, and in the footballing world, that has rightly been called 'toxic'.
How, with all of its efforts to take racism out of football, can the FA stand by and allow England to travel to Poland and Ukraine, two areas where racist activity is a big problem within football, with a captain that could even possibly be considered a racist? What kind of message does this send out to the footballing world? That if you're English, your actions don't matter? If John Terry does lead the side out during Euro 2012, and is later found to be guilty, then we have essentially advocated racism in our game provided it leads to positive results on the pitch.
That is not a risk I want to see England take. As well as being reprehensible, John Terry is a replaceable figure for the national team, and steps should be taken to make sure we distance ourselves from the actions he is accused of and the PR storm they will inevitably create.
That's why I started the following petition, calling for John Terry to be stripped of the England captaincy and banned from international football until his trial is concluded.
You can sign the petition by clicking here - http://t.co/YepHHDjg
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