Ten years ago marked the first time a player was punished for using social media

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FootballBH

·18 January 2021

Ten years ago marked the first time a player was punished for using social media

Despite the best efforts of the former Holland international to try and apologise for the post with two tweets that said: “My apology if they take my posted pic seriously. This is just a emotional reaction after losing an important game,” and “Sorry Howard Webb!”, they ultimately ended up being costly for him.

Babel was left charged by the FA with improper conduct and was hit with a £10,000 fine (pocket change) for the Twitter post, with Roger Burden – the regulatory commission chairman – saying: “Social network sites, like Twitter, must be regarded as being in the public domain.