Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has been waiting patiently for his racial abuse charge hearing date, and he has now been informed, according to a report by BBC Sport, that his FA hearing, and subsequent opportunity to argue his case, will take place in the week beginning 19th of December.
Shelvey was charged with breaching Rule E3 (1) for allegedly making a comment which referred to the ‘ethnic origin and/or race and/or nationality’ of a fellow player.
Shelvey allegedly racially abused Wolves’ Moroccan midfielder Roman Saiss towards the end of their league match on the 17th September. An allegation of racial abuse was reported to the referee at the end of the game, but Shelvey was not charged by the FA until the 8th November.
Witnesses to the incident have been interviewed, but these interviews have yielded conflicting accounts of what happened. As a result of this, the hearing is likely to be quite a lengthy process.
If Shelvey, who plans to plead his innocence, is found guilty, he faces a minimum five match ban.
