Sagbo, Assou-Ekotto hit with FA 'quenelle' charge

Hull striker Yannick Sagbo and QPR loanee Benoit Assou-Ekotto werecharged with improper conduct by England's Football Association on Tuesday forsocial media posts relating to the controversial 'quenelle' gesture.Meanwhile Manchester City's Samir Nasri and Liverpool's Mamadou Sakho bothreceived warnings from the governing body for similar incidents.The 'quenelle', widely regarded as anti-Semitic, came to the fore when West BromwichAlbion striker Nicolas Anelka made the gesture when celebrating a goal against WestHam on December 28.Former France striker Anelka was banned for five games in February, despitedenying all allegations of racism and anti-Semitism.He insisted he'd acted out of solidarity with his friend, French comedian DieudonneM'Bala M'Bala, who has been prosecuted in France for various racial offices.West Brom subsequently sacked Anelka for "gross misconduct" on March 14, justhours after he said he was quitting the Premier League club.The FA has now announced fresh action against Assou-Ekotto and Sagbo for issuingmessages of support for Anelka, Dieudonne and the 'quenelle' gesture itself.They are accused of breaching rule designed to prevent abusive comments based onrace, religion and ethnicity."Having considered the particular facts of each case extremely carefully inconsultation with our appointed expert, the FA has today charged Mr Assou-Ekottoand Mr Sagbo with improper conduct... in relation to their postings on Twitter," thegoverning body said."Both players have until April 8 2014 to respond to the charges."The FA has issued Mr Nasri with a formal warning. Mr Sakho has been reminded ofhis responsibilities as a participant."Assou-Ekotto, on a season-long loan at QPR from Tottenham, went on Twitter afterAnelka's salute to post a tweet in French, "jte fellicite man belle keunel epaule",which translates into English as "I congratulate you man on the beautiful shoulderquenelle".Nasri was pictured performing the 'quenelle' in a Twitter post but explained hisconduct on December 30."The pose in the picture i posted over 2 months ago symbolises being against the system," he said via his account @SamNasri19."It has absolutely nothing to do with being anti semitic or against jewish people. Iapologise for causing any hurt to anyone who might have been mislead intothinking this means anything of that nature".Sakho was also pictured performing the gesture but said in November he did notrealise the significance of what he was doing."This photo was taken six months ago, I did not know the meaning of this gesture, Igot trapped!," the Liverpool defender wrote on Twitter. Source: AFP