( CNN ) -- Rio Ferdinand has been found guilty of improper conduct and fined £45,000 ( $ 70,000 ) by the English Football Association ( FA ) for comments posted on Twitter relating to his England teammate and Chelsea star , Ashley Cole . Announcing its decision on Friday , the FA 's Regulatory Commission concluded that Ferdinand 's comment , which described Cole as a `` choc ice , '' brought the game into disrepute by referencing a person 's ethnic origin , color or race . The Manchester United and England defender was charged in July after he responded to a tweet describing Cole as a `` choc ice , '' re-tweeting : `` I hear you fella ! Choc ice is a classic ! Hahahahahaha ! ! '' The FA heard evidence from Herman Ouseley , a former chair of the UK 's Commission for Racial Equality who explained that `` choc ice '' was `` an offensive and insulting term ... used to question a person 's identity , based on the notion that they have a dark outer skin but inside they act as a white person ... It means the person is fake . '' Ferdinand 's comment was posted on July 14 , the day after John Terry was cleared of racially abusing Ferdinand 's younger brother Anton during a Premier League match between Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers in October 2011 . Cole had been called as a character witness for his Chelsea teammate during the hearing held at Westminster Magistrates Court in London . Although upholding the charge and fining Ferdinand , the FA stressed that it did not believe Ferdinand to be a racist , describing him as someone who has `` a track record in fronting anti-racism campaigns in football . '' Ferdinand , who is one of football 's most high profile `` Twitterers '' with over three million followers , has declined to appeal the decision . Greg Stobart , a football correspondent for Goal.com told CNN : `` The fine is perhaps a little bit harsh . The thing I would say is that it was a foolish thing to do , but we know Rio was emotional because his brother was involved in the case . '' He 's not the first to fall foul of the FA for comments on Twitter , Stobart says , with Arsenal 's Emmanuel Frimpong recently being fined £6,000 ( $ 9,500 ) after admitting a charge of improper conduct . `` Players need to be more careful , '' Stobart said . `` ( Twitter ) is a public forum ... you 've got to be responsible . '' Despite being cleared by the court , John Terry has also been charged with improper conduct by the FA for his alleged comments to Anton Ferdinand during the match last October .
Manchester United defender found guilty of improper conduct and fined by English Football Association . Ferdinand commented on a tweet which had referred to Ashley Cole as a ` ` choc ice '' Cole was a character witness for John Terry at a court hearing which alleged he racially abused Ferdinand 's brother James . Terry cleared by the court in July but is awaiting fate of improper conduct charges by FA .