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Professional FIFA Player Retires After Being Banned By EA Sports Over 'Mum Joke'

Professional FIFA Player Retires After Being Banned By EA Sports Over 'Mum Joke'

Harry Hesketh was banned over a comment he made to 14-year-old FIFA sensation Anders Vejrgang.

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

A professional FIFA player has retired after being hit with a ban for a 'Mum joke' he made on a stream.

Harry Hesketh, who has 700,000 subscribers on YouTube, played against 14-year-old sensation Anders Vejrgang during a FUT Champions match live on Twitch in December and made a reference to the youngster's mother when he said, "his fingers might be quick, but mine are longer."

He then addressed the issue in a video and acknowledged it was "a distasteful comment".

But feeling his actions were inappropriate, EA banned him for FGS Europe Regional Qualifier on February 6.

The violation was: "Publishing, posting, uploading or distributing content, or organizing/participating in any activity, group or guild that EA (acting reasonably and objectively) determines is inappropriate, abusive, hateful, harassing, profane, defamatory, threatening, obscene, sexually explicit, infringing, privacy-invasive, vulgar, offensive, indecent or unlawful."

However, the move from EA Sports has prompted Harry to retire from esports completely. His stint with Fnatic has ended after five months and he will now focus on creating content on his own accord.

Believing the punishment highlighted EA's double standards, the 25-year-old uploaded a video where he explained he is done playing FIFA professionally going forward.

The former Hashtag United player said: "It's in EA's power to ban you for anything. They can do what they want, when they want. It isn't a defence, it isn't me trying to get it overturned.

"I got dealt the same severity of ban for a mom joke as racism. That's just a stone cold fact. If this is the precedent you're setting for pro players, in the next 24 hours, I could go out and get every single person that's ever competed in FIFA on the world stage banned.

"No hate towards Anders. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Please don't do this. A revelation came to me after the stream. [EA] went to Anders and said 'do you want an inquest into this stuff that happened on stream' and they said no, because nothing happened.

"The thing with EA that disheartens me a bit is the personal relationships. I get along with everyone I've met. I have zero personal vendettas against anyone I've met. I don't know where it's gone wrong, but it's gone wrong somewhere.

"I'm announcing my retirement from EA competitive events, effective immediately.

"This is the biggest risk of my life ⁠- if I'm not competing, I'm not competing with a team, so I'm deleting a three-year contract there."

Featured Image Credit: Harry Hesketh/ Red Bull / EA Sports

Topics: Football News, FIFA 21 news, Football, FIFA, FIFA 21