Anti-racism organization Kick It Out hits back at Rio Ferdinand over 'useless' claim

One of the more controversial parts of Rio Ferdinand's latest autobiography is his criticism of anti-racism organization Kick It Out, who the Queens Park Rangers centre-back labels as "useless" for allegedly not supporting his younger brother, Anton, in the race trial involving John Terry.

Of course, Terry was found not guilty of racial abuse in July 2012 after denying that he referred to Anton as a "fucking black cunt" during a heated altercation when QPR hosted Chelsea at Loftus Road in October 2011. 

While Ferdinand believes that Kick It Out's support throughout the ordeal was "pure lip service," the organization's staff and volunteers don't see things that way. And on Wednesday, chairman Herman Ouseley hit back at the former England international in conversation with the Guardian.

"It rankles in the sense that it sends out the wrong message," Ouseley said. "Nobody can ever say a player has come to us and we have not supported them. Not one. We have always done what we could whereas there are an awful lot of other people who haven't.

"Unfortunately we are the punchbag for some people and it's easy to have a punchbag like us. We're a soft target and the easiest target. Rio should not be attacking the weakest point – the people who are actually supporting him – but the people who were not supporting him. I would have thought the whole of football should have turned up at that court case wanting justice."

Ouseley also stated that a representative of Kick It Out attended the five-day trial with Ferdinand's parents each and every day as a show of support – something that Ferdinand ironically did not do – and that the organization held several meetings with the family in advance while also lobbying the FA to accelerate its own disciplinary processes.

Furthermore, Ouseley resigned from the FA Council after it refused to issue a public apology to the families of Ferdinand and Patrice Evra for how it handled the racial-abuse cases involving Terry and Luis Suarez, respectively.

This isn't the first time that Ferdinand and Kick It Out have butted heads. Back in October 2012, Ferdinand defied his then-manager Alex Ferguson and refused to wear a Kick It Out T-shirt because the organization had "refused to come to the courtroom."