The FA

[Zatman]

Couldnt find a thread but seem to always have an embarrassing story and now the clearing in the woods that started Project Big Picture has resigned due to inappropriate comments

 

Quote

FA chairman Greg Clarke resigns after 'unacceptable' comments

• Clarke made series of inappropriate remarks to MPs
• ‘My unacceptable words were a disservice to game’

• Greg Clarke was forced to quit as FA chairman in ignominious circumstances on Tuesday after a series of offensive gaffes to MPs left the reputation of his organisation seriously damaged.

  The 63-year-old is to vacate his role immediately after his description of “coloured players”, amongst other remarks, caused shock and outrage in the world of football and beyond. The move comes just weeks after the FA sought to take the lead on inclusion within sport with the launch of its Football Leadership Diversity Code.

• Following an emergency meeting of the FA board, it was announced that Clarke would immediately leave the position he has held since 2017. Clarke, 63, is also currently a vice-president at the international governing body Fifa.

• Clarke had been summoned in front of the digital, culture, media and sport select committee on Tuesday to discuss his controversial role in Project Big Picture after reporting by the Guardian revealed he had been involved in greater depth, and for a longer period of time, than he had publicly claimed.

• While Clarke defended his part in Project Big Picture, he separately went on to make a run of digressive answers to MPs, in which he used the term “coloured players” to describe black, Asian and minority ethnic people and suggested that “different career interests” led South Asian people to choose careers in IT over sport. He also described a gay player coming out as a ‘life choice’ and recounted an anecdote about girl footballers being afraid to be hit by a ball.

  Asked by the Labour MP Alex Davies-Jones about the absence of prominent gay footballers within the game, Clarke suggested that a concern about online abuse might prevent them from coming out.

  Clarke said: “If I look at what happens to high profile female footballers, high profile coloured footballers and the abuse they take on social media … they take absolutely terrible abuse.”

  In another answer to Davies-Jones, Clarke went on to say: “BAME communities are not an amorphous mass. If you look at top level football the Afro-Caribbean community is overrepresented compared to the south Asian community. If you go to the IT department of the FA there’s a lot more South Asians than there are Afro-Caribbeans. They have different career interests.”

  Clarke was forced to apologise for his remarks before the session had even finished. Asked to retract the word “coloured” by the committee member and Labour MP Kevin Brennan, Clarke said: “If I said it I deeply apologise for it”. His apology was immediately expanded upon by the FA in a social media post.

  Conservative MP Julian Knight, the chair of the committee, said that Clarke was “right” to apologise but noted “this isn’t the first time the FA has come to grief over these issues”. In a previous session of the DCMS committee in 2017, when Clarke had been summoned to discuss racial discrimination in football, he described accusations of institutional racism at the FA as “fluff”.

  As the afternoon passed a wave of disquiet both inside and outside the organisation only grew, and shortly after 5pm Clarke announced he was stepping down.

  “My unacceptable words in front of parliament were a disservice to our game and to those who watch, play, referee and administer it,” Clarke said. “I am deeply saddened that I have offended those diverse communities in football that I and others worked so hard to include. I would like to thank my friends and colleagues in the game for the wisdom and counsel they have shared over the years and resign from the FA with immediate effect.”

  The FA said in a statement: “Peter McCormick will step into the role as interim FA chairman with immediate effect and the FA Board will begin the process of identifying and appointing a new chair in due course.”

  Sanjay Bhandari, the chief executive of anti-racist organisation Kick it Out, said of Clarke: “His use of outdated language to describe black and Asian people as ‘coloured’ is from decades ago and should remain consigned to the dustbin of history.”

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  Clarke’s departure could not have come at a more challenging time for English football’s governing body. Two weeks ago it launched a Football Leadership Diversity Code, seen as a landmark document that challenged football clubs to commit to hard targets for placing black Asian and minority ethnic people in senior roles. Seen as a landmark document, the code was also acknowledged as being a first attempt to tackle more deep set challenges for ethnic minorities within the game and society more broadly. The FA is also currently in the process of making savings of £300m due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the loss of 124 jobs.

   

  Another former chair of the FA, David Bernstein, believed what Clarke had said was “symptomatic of an organisation that has just been too slow to reform”, and called for an independent regulator to help improve governance in the game.

  “The expression ‘the fish rots from the head’ is a very appropriate one”, Bernstein said. “Any organisation needs to be properly structured, properly governed, have a proper degree of independence. When you have all those things in place, there’s a lot less chance of the organisation slipping up as the FA has on occasion and has again today.”

  Labour’s shadow equalities secretary, Marsha de Cordova, said: “The comments made today were offensive and outdated.

  “The FA must do much more than simply apologise – they should review all of their diversity programmes and ask whether they go far enough or fast enough.”

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/nov/10/fa-chairman-greg-clarke-resigns-after-unacceptable-comments

 

[kidlewis]

Seems to be an older generation thing. I’m 37 and never really used it but heard loads of people my parents age and above use it. 
 

was it the term used post war in the US and UK or something? Was saying “black” back then deemed more racist or something?

his other comments appear far more telling on sexuality and women’s football. 
 

bagged a hat trick of offence in one statement. He should be a cabinet member with form like that or Join Farage on his next escapade. 

[HanoiVillan]

Yes, it was the 'standard' term for a while in the 60s and 70s, as I understand it. It covers people from all non-white backgrounds, which was presumably part of the attraction - a shorthand - but obviously it seems to place white as the 'default' race from which others diverge, it elides important differences between the lives and experiences of people of different ethnic backgrounds, and also it is associated with the Jim Crow era of segregation in the American south.

[Stevo985]

It's one of those where I think it can be used "innocently", if that's the right word.

I remember Benedict Cumberbatch using it a few years ago and getting into some hot water but I think that was a case of genuinely not knowing it was an acceptable term to use.

 

Not sure I'd give Clarke the same benefit of the doubt

[villa4europe]

you can try and excuse it as "simple" all you like, and ive seen a lot of people on social media trying to do so*, a man in his position and experience should not be making that kind of mistake

* gabby got loads of stick after he tweeted about it last night

[HanoiVillan]

Yes, it's one of those where for me it's not necessarily damning of his moral character that he made that mistake, but it certainly does raise questions about whether he deserved a - presumably very massive - salary if he can't get it right when speaking in public.

I guess it's largely academic now he's quit.

[Keyblade]

Yeah I'm not going to say he's racist or anything just from that, but it definitely calls his position into question. How could you be the head of the FA, who are presumably trying to make a stand against racism, but also not know about some hideously outdated racial terms? Maybe you're not the right man for the job, so him resigning is probably about right.

[Xela]

He was in a position where he should have known the correct terms to use. A little bit of preparation wouldn't have hurt. 

 

[PussEKatt]

Im not sure but I would think that term started in South Africa during the apartied years.

[villa4europe]

15 hours ago, Xela said:

He was in a position where he should have known the correct terms to use. A little bit of preparation wouldn't have hurt. 

 

He's in a position where I can't believe that he hasn't had training for it, he must do media training once or twice a year and then whatever the correct PC training is* too and with his position if he's not doing those training course then again it's a failure on him 

* I did it about 10 years ago at my work at a construction company 

[HanoiVillan]

3 hours ago, PussEKatt said:

Im not sure but I would think that term started in South Africa during the apartied years.

It was certainly *also* used in South Africa yes, and is to this day, where it is both less controversial as a term and as I understand more specifically used to refer to people of dual racial heritage (though I may be wrong about that).

But it has an even longer history in the US (it's the C in NAACP, for instance).

[Billson]

3 hours ago, PussEKatt said:

Im not sure but I would think that term started in South Africa during the apartied years.

I don't know when it started but they certainly use the term 'coloured' in South Africa to describe mixed race / Indian people. It's not an offensive term there as I understand it, you are usually categorised as 'black', 'white' or 'coloured'.

Lived there for a couple of years but I could be wrong.

Edited November 12, 2020 by Billson

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