Greg
Clarke has resigned as FA chairman in the wake of referring to BAME
footballers as "coloured" while giving evidence to MPs.
Clarke used the phrase when answering a question around the difficulty of
gay players in the men's game coming out because of social media backlash
during a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee meeting on Tuesday.
The former FA chairman said: "If I look at what happens to high-profile
female footballers, to high-profile coloured footballers, and the abuse they
take on social media... social media is a free-for-all."
A few minutes later, DCMS committee member Kevin Brennan MP asked Clarke if
he wished to withdraw the use of the word "coloured".
"If I said it, I deeply apologise for it," Clarke replied.
"Secondly, I am a product of having worked overseas, I worked in the USA for
many years, where I was required to use the term 'people of colour'
sometimes because that was the product of their diversity legislation and
positive discrimination format. Sometimes I trip over my words."
After his resignation was confirmed, Clarke said he "put the interests of
football first" when making the decision to step down - something he had
been "actively considering for some time" - and apologised again for his
comments.
His resignation statement read: "My unacceptable words in front of
Parliament were a disservice to our game and to those who watch, play,
referee and administer it. This has crystallised my resolve to move on.
"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 Peter McCormick would be stepping in as interim FA chairman with
immediate effect as they "begin the process of identifying and appointing a
new chair in due course".
Clarke was also criticised for referencing 'differing career interests'
between people from south Asian and African-Caribbean backgrounds when he
was asked what the FA was doing to improve diversity within the governing
body.
"I was talking to the chair of a county FA from the west country. He has
tried to now make sure he has representation within diverse communities,"
Clarke said.
"(He told me) 'I'm over-committed with South Asians, I'm not getting enough
people from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds'.
"The BAME communities aren't an amorphous mass. If you look at top-level
football, the Afro-Caribbean community is over-represented versus the South
Asian community.
Greg Clarke, chairman of the FA during the WSL Continental Cup Final between
Arsenal Women and Manchester City Ladies at Adams Park on March 14, 2018 in
High Wycombe, England.1:56
"If you go to the IT department at the FA, there's a lot more South Asians
than there are Afro-Caribbeans. They have different career interests."
Later, Clarke discussed the environment in football that would await a male
professional player who came out publicly as gay. In doing so, he used the
phrase "life choice", although it was unclear whether he was referring to
sexuality itself or the decision such a player would make to come out.
"The real issue is once you run out in front of 60,000 people and you
decided on Monday that you wanted to disclose your sexuality - and I would
never pressure anybody to disclose their sexuality - what I would want to do
is to know that anybody who runs out onto the pitch and says, 'I'm gay. I'm
proud of it and I'm happy. It's a life choice, and I've made it because my
life is a better place', I'd like to believe and I do believe they would
have the support of their mates in the changing room," Clarke said.
"I believe we have things in place so that anybody who misbehaves in terms
of homophobic or misogynistic or racist abuse, we will find them and we will
ban them from football, we have the power."
Analysis
Chief news reporter Bryan Swanson has given his verdict on Greg Clarke's
resignation:
"This has been swift and it has been decisive.
"I think once you got the statement in particular from the chairman of Kick
It Out, Sanjay Bhandair, talking about Greg Clarke's comments as completely
unacceptable, you sensed that this was only going one way.
"I think what has happened is that it has been a build-up of comments today
[Tuesday].
"This was not just one throwaway remark, there has been a couple of remarks
picked up, that he himself [Clarke] has said are unacceptable.
"You have nowhere to go when he himself has said, 'what I said was not
right'.
"He will have seen the criticism, you suspect those within the FA, the FA
board, have probably spoken to him.
"I think we should also point out that Greg Clarke at the FA has tried to do
a lot for diverse communities.
"He and Martin Glenn [CEO] wore the Rainbow Laces flag inside the Kremlin at
the World Cup draw in Russia in 2017, as a show of support for the LGBT
community.
"That said, look at what Stonewall have said today - there is no doubt that
his words have offended."
Mings: No shame in admitting we have a
very long way to go
Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings was asked to comment on reports Clarke was
set to quit, which were later confirmed by the FA, while speaking at an
England news conference.
The defender said: "I will reiterate my point that we do still have a very,
very long way to go, and there is no shame in that.
"There is no shame in knowing we can all improve, there is no shame in
knowing we all have to have uncomfortable conversations, because whilst it
does not affect large proportions of society or the community, it does
affect some segments of it.
"Football is such a diverse community that we have to be aware of what is
appropriate for one another and we have to be careful and mindful of the
terminology which we use.
"I won't comment too much on that, but I am sure there will be other people
around the country who are angry as well."
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