Racism in Football - an ongoing series

When, and I paraphrase and apologise to the faint-hearted, Roy Keane told his Irish Manager, Barnsley-accented Mick McCarthy:

You're a fucking wanker and you can stick your World Cup up your arse ... you English cunt! You can stick it up your bollocks.

it was generally agreed that the offensive term in this was 'English'.

Now John Terry is said to have called Anton Ferdinand a 'fucking black cunt'

Does 'black' carry a more than descriptive import or is it racist, a form of 'hate speech'.  Obviously this will be a matter for the Court but according to the BBC Anton Ferdinand said he was initially reluctant to talk to the police because it was a sporting issue, 'This is a footballing issue that happened on the football pitch where we work'.

So racism is bad but football is another country.