Goalkeeper showed ignorance of fascism, says FA panel

Cleared by a disciplinary panel of performing a Nazi salute, a Premier League soccer player was still criticised for his lack of knowledge about fascism and Adolf Hitler.

Crystal Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey was described by a Football Association commission as having displayed "a very considerable one might even say lamentable degree of ignorance about anything to do with" the Nazi regime.

The 32-year-old Hennessey, who is from Wales, had denied giving a Nazi salute because, the commission said, "he said he did not even know what one was."
"All we would say (at the risk of sounding patronizing) is that Mr. Hennessey would be well advised to familiarize himself with events which continue to have great significance to those who live in a free country."
The FA charged Hennessey, saying the gesture brought the game into disrepute and was an aggravated breach of rules because it included a "reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or religion and/or belief."
The panel said it was not challenged by witnesses in the hearing that "Mr. Hennessey does have rather a loud voice and tends to be impatient."