IF we truly believed Bernardo Silva was a racist, there would be demands for his exclusion from the Manchester City side.
He certainly would not have started Tuesday’s 3-0 victory at Preston North End in the Carabao Cup.
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Bernardo would be forced to train alone until the FA’s independent regulatory commission sits, just in case he passed on any of his toxic leanings to more of his team-mates.
It would threaten to knock Brexit off the top of news bulletins, with TV crews camped outside City’s training ground as the sport sits in judgement of this septic individual.
If the case was proven, football’s skewed sense of social justice would demand that this prejudiced, intolerant Portuguese impostor is booted out of the game — for good.
The probability is that Bernardo, who compared team-mate Benjamin Mendy with the cartoon character on the Conguitos chocolate wrappers, made a mistake.
It is OK to make them, however foolish or inappropriate, from time to time.
In the rush to condemn him a racist, to be championed as the most reactionary, it is easy to forget how easy it is to make an error of judgement.
It happens.
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However uncomfortable it is to admit publicly, there is not a person walking the earth who has not made a comment that could be considered gravely offensive, or inappropriate.
At a Football Writers’ Association committee meeting I was once shamed for referring to a woman as “a lady”.
If a man refers to “the missus” these days, he is likely to feel the full force of womanhood coming down on him.
Fine. Understand why society deems it unacceptable, apologise to those offended, move on.
Football, especially in the UK, has done so much to promote equality, whether it be related to race, or gender, or social acceptance.
Publishing it on Twitter, the vanguard of volatility was a pretty stupid thing to do for a player with a coveted blue tick and 605,000 followers to boot.
Bernardo is, as millennials say, “an influencer”.
That power, the extraordinary ability of the sport’s iconic figures to infiltrate mere mortals’ minds, will form part of the FA’s case.
Bernardo’s post was not innocuous — it was erroneous.
It could be argued that Bernardo’s poorly conceived tweet will pollute ordinary folk, poisoning their brains and activating their deepest darkest racist beliefs. To use a diving analogy, if kids watch Neymar rolling around on the grass they will think it is OK to copy it in the school team.
It is a legitimate argument.
One of the biggest failings is Bernardo’s refusal, along with boss Pep Guardiola, to accept his tweet is likely to offend.
Bernardo deleted it (too late for that, amigo) and posted a follow-up: “Can’t even joke with a friend these days . . . You guys . . . ”
For one, how does Bernardo’s team-mate Raheem Sterling feel about such an offensive post?
Not many people would belly laugh at that sort of humour in any era, especially in Spain or Portugal, where Conguitos are readily available.
After running the cartoon past some Spanish and Portuguese friends — without alerting them to, or referencing, Bernardo’s tweet — they all acknowledged racial connotations.
Beyond the City bubble, Bernardo exceeded the outrage threshold on social media the moment he posted the Conguitos image.
Had he apologised, then the sport would be inclined to be more forgiving.
’Fessing up does not mean people will run around saying you are a racist forever and a day.
Maybe just a day.
There will be some short-term scarring — but understanding the reasons behind the importance of racial integration and tolerance is preferable.
Ignorance is no defence.
Whatever Bernardo’s mitigation, he should be punished by the FA.
Taking it the next level, to brand him a “racist” for the rest of his life, would be ridiculous.
