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Greg Clarke resigned as president of the Football Association hours after a calamitous appearance before deputies in which he referred to “footballers of color” and “Asians working in IT.”
Clarke, who is also ready to step down as British Vice President of FIFA, also seemed to suggest that coming out as gay is a “life’s choice”, claiming that the lack of female goalkeepers is because young women don’t like it. they kick balls. to them.
Clarke’s comments were condemned by Kick It Out president Sanjay Bhandari as “outdated” and “lazy racist stereotypes”, representing a “big step back” to achieve greater diversity within soccer.
“As a person who loves soccer and has provided decades of service to our game, it is right for me to put soccer’s interests first,” Clarke said in a statement.
“2020 has been a challenging year and I have been actively considering resigning for some time to make way for a new president, now that our CEO transition is complete and excellent executive leadership has been established under Mark Bullingham.
“My unacceptable words in front of Parliament were a disservice to our game and to those who watch, play, referee and manage it. This has crystallized my determination to move on.
I am deeply saddened to have offended those diverse communities in soccer that I and others work so hard to include.
“I would like to thank my friends and colleagues in the game for the wisdom and advice they have shared over the years and to resign from the FA with immediate effect.”
A statement from the FA read: “We can confirm that Greg Clarke has resigned as president.
“Peter McCormick will take over as Acting FA President with immediate effect and the FA Board will begin the process of identifying and appointing a new President in due course.”
After apologizing for using the term “footballers of color” during the hearing, it is understood that Clarke spoke to the FA board members seeking support, but submitted his resignation upon realizing he was not there.
The 63-year-old appeared before a selection committee of the Department of Culture, Media, Digital Media and Sport (DCMS) to be questioned about his role of influence in the recent proposals of Project Big Picture, but also faced questions about the work that is holding the governing body for women’s soccer and diversity in the game.
Clarke made a series of controversial comments Tuesday.
(AFP via Getty)
In response to a question about how difficult it is for gay gamers to come out, Clarke tried to reference the abuse on social media that has occurred on other occasions.
He said: “The answer is that I don’t know. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to people in the LGBT community, people from other sports who have come out, and the opinions that I have heard is that if I look at what has happened to high profile, high level footballers. profile of footballers of color, and the abuse they have received on social media. It is free for everyone.
“People can see if you are black and if they don’t like blacks, because they are filthy racists, they will abuse you anonymously online.
“They can see if you are a woman, some of the high profile black footballers suffer terrible abuse, absolutely vile abuse.
“I have not spoken directly to gay footballers because I have not been able to find anyone who knows me, but I do talk to other people around the game and they say ‘why are you voluntarily signing up for that abuse?”
Before the comment, Clarke made questionable comments about the “different professional interests” of the Bame communities, adding: “If you go to the IT department at the FA, there are far more South Asians than Afro-Caribbean people. They have different professional interests. “
He also referred to the process of a player coming out as gay to his teammates as “a life choice.”
For all the steps that were taken recently, the comments made today are a big step backwards.
Sanjay Bhandari, kick it
The comments were immediately condemned by Bhandari, who chairs the anti-racist group that has pushed for racial equality in soccer for nearly 30 years.
“His use of outdated language to describe Black and Asian people as ‘colored’ is decades old and should be relegated to the dustbin of history. Being gay is not a ‘life choice’ as he also claimed, ”said Bhandari.
“I was particularly concerned about the use of lazy racist stereotypes about South Asians and their supposed professional preferences… that kind of attitude may well partially explain why South Asians are statistically the least represented ethnic minority in the field.
“These comments indicate that much remains to be done to challenge attitudes. Despite all the steps taken recently, the comments made today are a huge step backward. “
Clarke issued an apology when asked by MP Kevin Brennan if she wanted to retract her comment, noting that her choice of language hardly justified the diverse and welcoming approach she had spent so much time boasting about.
“If I say so, I deeply apologize for it,” Clarke said. “I am a product of having worked abroad, I worked in the US for many years, where I was asked to use the term ‘people of color’ because that was a product of their diversity legislation and affirmative action format.
“Sometimes I stumble over my words and I apologize.”
Clarke resigned after a show of non-support from the FA board
(Reuters)
The FA added a statement to say: “Greg Clarke deeply apologizes for the language he used to refer to members of the ethnic minority community during today’s select committee hearing.
“He acknowledged that using the term ‘colored’ is inappropriate and apologized wholeheartedly during the hearing.”
However, his comment was picked up by MP Julian Knight, chairman of the DCMS select committee, who highlighted the fact that the incident came three years after a similar incident when Clarke addressed concerns about institutional racism within FA as “fluff”.
“It is true that Greg Clarke apologized to the committee, however, this is not the first time the FA has lamented these issues. It makes us question its commitment to diversity,” Knight said.
“The question is really: is there someone like Mr. Clarke who uses such unfortunate phrases and has used unfortunate phrases in the past and has shown that he wobbles on some of these issues whether or not he is the right person to carry FA when has these problems to deal with. “
Former Premier League defender Anton Ferdinand, who wrote: “I appreciate that the FA is doing a good job with its diversity campaign, but it is important for President Greg Clarke to know that using the term ‘footballers of color’ to refer to people of ethnicity is unacceptable !!! It is clear that education is necessary at all levels “.
Former England internationals Stan Collymore and Darren Bent were also among those who criticized his comments.
