Football Association (FA) chairman Greg Clarke resigned on Tuesday within hours of a series of comments on race, gender and sexuality.
Answering questions at a British House of Commons committee hearing, Clarke referenced “colored footballers,” said that South Asian people have “different career interests” than playing the game, that being gay was a “life choice” and that girls in the junior levels of the game do not like having the ball kicked at them.
“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. “This has crystallized 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.”
Photo: Reuters
The 63-year-old Clarke remains a vice president of FIFA.
“I am a product of having worked overseas,” Clarke said when asked later about his comments in the hearing. “I worked in the USA for many years where I was required to use the term ‘people of color,’ and ... sometimes I trip over my words.”
Clarke also apologized during the select committee session.
Clarke’s resignation was issued just as a virtual news conference was being held with England defender Tyrone Mings, who helped the English soccer association form a new code last month to increase gender and ethnic diversity in coaching and senior leadership positions, with targets set for recruitment.
“We all have a long way to go and if anything has come from this year, a lot of uncomfortable conversations have made a lot of people aware of the problems we are facing in society. Things like this are not ideal, but at the same time we have a duty of care to understand what is going on in the world and understand what terminology you can and cannot use,” Mings said. “And if you fall foul of that or there is a slip of the tongue, be man enough and brave enough to apologize for it.”
Sanjay Bhandari, the executive chair of anti-discrimination group Kick It Out, said he was “extremely disappointed” by Clarke’s comments during the committee appearance.
“His use of outdated language to describe black and Asian people as ‘colored’ is from decades ago and should remain consigned to the dustbin of history,” Bhandari said. “These comments indicate that more still needs to be done to challenge attitudes. For all the steps made forward recently, the comments expressed today are a big step backwards.”
Bhandari said: “Being gay is not a ‘life choice’ as he claimed.”
Clarke told lawmakers:
“If you look at top-level football, the Afro-Caribbean community is overrepresented versus the south Asian community. 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.”
While discussing verbal abuse faced by players, he said:
“If I look at what happens to high-profile female footballers, to high-profile colored footballers and the abuse they take on social media ... social media is a free-for-all.”
“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 on Monday: ‘I’m gay and I’m proud of it, and I’m happy and it’s a life choice’ ... they would have the support of their mates in the changing room,” he said.
Describing a conversation he had with a coach of a girls’ team, he said:
“She said: ‘Young girls, when they take up the game [aged] six, seven, eight, just don’t like having the ball kicked at them hard, right? They prefer to kick it than have it kicked at them.’”
“We have to understand we need to look at different ways to bring women into the goalkeeper’s position,” he added.
The FA said that board member Peter McCormick would become interim chairman as it begins the search for Clarke’s successor.
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