A Football Association panel has concluded that Crystal Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey did not know what a Nazi salute was after he was charged with making the offensive gesture.
Earlier this month, an independent regulatory commission said it could not prove the charges against Hennessey and said no further action was expected against him.
The photo of the Welsh international with his right arm in the air was posted on teammate Max Meyer’s Instagram story on January 5 following the FA Cup win over Grimsby. Hennessey said the resemblance was purely coincidental.
Hennessey’s explanation was that he “waved and yelled at the person taking the photo to keep going” and “put my hand over my mouth so the sound could be heard.”
The panel said Hennessey was able to “substantiate” his statement with photographs, including one showing his right arm raised and his left hand over his mouth in a “similar manner” to the photo posted on Instagram, and photos of him on the field making similar movements to get the attention of his teammates.
The Regulatory Commission has now published its written reasons for the decision. It states that Hennessey has shown a “deplorable level of ignorance” about Adolf Hitler, fascism and the Nazi regime. He would be well advised to “familiarize himself with events that continue to be of great importance to those who live in a free country.”
“As unlikely as this may seem to those of us of an older generation, we do not reject this claim as untrue,” the panel said.
“In fact, in his cross-examination on this subject, Mr Hennessey displayed a considerable – one might even say deplorable – degree of ignorance about everything to do with Hitler, fascism and the Nazi regime.
“While it may be unfortunate that anyone should be ignorant of so important a part of our own and the world’s history, we do not believe that we should therefore conclude that he has not told the truth in this respect.
It agreed that the FA was “entirely justified” in bringing the case, but that “we consider it more likely that Mr Hennessey was, as he himself says, trying to shout at the waiter and get his attention, rather than giving the Nazi salute.”
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