Greg Clarke resigns as Football Association chairman after remarks he made.....

A few hundred years ago women with black hair of dubious character were burnt as witches. The courts of that time would impose other sentences to people which involved weights attached to their legs and the prognosis of the court consisting of all law creators/ dignitaries was if the defendant  floated "the devil " was keeping them up and if they drowned they weren't possessed but at least were given a decent burial. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that.

In 2020 we look back at those times shaking our heads with laugher at how society could be so stupid which future generations will be doing on the woke era of 2020 where even the vice president is too ashamed to categorise her gender on twitter with " she/her" added to the intro incase offence is taken. It's utterly ridiculous of course but until society evolves and the average IQ of a typical human being increases, we have to put up with it.

Oh my goodness, the seething never sleeps.

Neither do the witch burners of 2020

wolf we are doing that now with covid! you have to get a test to say you are ok when you are perfectly fit.

Here we go again.

A person of colour is said and people smile encouragingly in suits nodding silently as the correct terminology is adhered to. If someone says a coloured person, a large mothership computer flares up in witch central with an enraged student peering through thick reading glasses with a smug narcissistic grin and slowly types " burnthebast*rd# "

Deflection central in full swing

wolf...You make a good point with regard to the term "person of colour" and I don't know how that term came about other than to say it presumably covers all people who are of a dark complexion. As we know "coloured" has it's connections with South Africa during apartheid and so is discredited.

How long til we won't be able to use words such as cockneys, geordies , scousers, etc?

Most of those terms started as insults
but were adopted by the groups.

Funny old world, innit

I am of welsh heritage and i did feel very uncomfortable about the way the sun newspaper used to get stuck into old neil kinnock.
W*lsh w*indbag. And all that.
Happened today I think i might have recoure to m'learned friends.

I do remember jim davidson, who has changed his act to go with the times, saying that the people he felt sorry for were the welsh.
Not allowed to make irish jokes any more but any old two bit commedian from jimmy carr to paul merton loves having a pop.
Like to see them try that down me old mans rugby club.

Don’t trust politically correct people they are as merciless as the Nazis and the communists

It will very easily be your job next

As someone who is short sighted (myopic) I am still seething that somebody decided to be offended on my behalf and not putting Mr Magoo cartoons on the tele ............he is hilarious.

Redundancies at your place of employment? We’ll quotas have to be fulfilled
That’s you gone then as well ...

some smug self righteous people on here.let he who is without sin..........

so a man who says a coloured person instead a person of colour must lose his job? a sad world we live in.lets hope you never make a mistake.....Could not agree more with that statement.

Great Ormond St worker sues hospital claiming
colleagues bullied her for being Christian , called her a ‘ silly white b***h’
Hospital staff told her not to drink after work as it would offend Muslims ,
kicked her in a lift , and subjected her to racial slurs and threatening behaviour

so a man who says a coloured person instead a person of colour must lose his job? a sad world we live in.lets hope you never make a mistake.....Could not agree more with that statement.



If true yes, but it's not true

Nominated by the FA board in July 2016, Clarke assumed the role of chairman of the FA on 4 September 2016.[9] On 7 February 2019, Clarke was elected as a FIFA Vice President for the UEFA region at the 43rd UEFA Congress in Rome.[3][10]

While FA chairman, Clarke had to lead the organisation's response to allegations of historical sexual abuse in football, and of racism and bullying in relation to the Mark Sampson and Eniola Aluko cases.[11] In October 2017, Clarke announced a "fundamental" review of the FA after admitting it had "lost the trust of the public" following the Mark Sampson scandal.[12]

Public comments    Edit
In the same month, Clarke was criticised by sexual abuse victim Andy Woodward for 'humiliating' remarks Clarke made to a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee hearing,[13][14] while the Professional Footballers' Association's chief executive Gordon Taylor said the PFA might sue Clarke over suggestions Taylor had not supported Woodward with further counselling.[15]

On 10 November 2020, Clarke resigned with immediate effect as the Football Association chairman following a meeting with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, in which he referred to BAME footballers as "coloured people",[16] said a gay footballer’s decision on whether to come out was a "life choice", that "young female players did not like having the ball hit hard at them" and suggested that "different career interests" led South Asian people to choose careers in IT over sport.[17] Clarke was talking about the racist abuse of players by trolls to the DCMS select committee via video link when making these comments.[2]

Three years before, in front of the same parliamentary committee, Clarke said the issue of institutional racism in football was "fluff".[18] He had to apologise after being chastised by MPs and reminded that language matters and led to the FA being described as "shambolic" by a previous parliamentary enquiry.[19]

What's not true about it?

" said a gay footballer’s decision on whether to come out was a "life choice","   How terrible.. what is it then?

"young female players did not like having the ball hit hard at them"   They don't

"different career interests" led South Asian people to choose careers in IT over sport" How many top south asian athletes are there compared to ones leading technological innovations in IT?

Burn the witch

Was Clarke displaying the necessary qualities of leadership ?

No idea, I wasn't his employer... it's far from " shambolic " as described in the article

a coach told him young female players didn't like having the ball hit hard at them, he didn't actually say it himself.

He didn't intend to offend using the word coloured. That word was used for years by people of his generation and was considered perfectly acceptable. At some point in the recent past it became unacceptable but without white people being made aware of it. What was the cut-off date? I can remember Rio Ferdinand giving out about the use of it on BT a few years ago but that's my entire knowledge on the subject.

Kick it Out once again saying they are 'disappointed' and looking down their nose at a guy who didn't intend to offend and doesn't have a clue about what is offensive and what isn't. They did the same to Bernardo and statements like that do nothing to further their cause. They seem more intent on vilifying people who make comments innocently and having them lose their jobs than actually tackling the racism problem and kicking it out.

It is an education issue. Black people get their education from experiencing racism first hand all their lives. Women understand sexism the same way. It hurts, it sticks with you and you remeber it. White men understand neither. It is like asking a 10yo boy who never went to school what 2+2 = and then saying 'shame on you' when he doesn't know the answer instead of telling him what 2 is and that the answer is 4.

They need to draw up a one page pamphlet listing what words are offensive and acceptable and what each racial stereotype is and why it is offensive. Send it to every house in the country. Really sick and tired of these mugs trying to solve a racism problem by requiring people who don't understand racism to figure it out like a cryptic crossword and lose their jobs if they don't. There are literally tens of millions of people in the UK who could do what Clarke or Bernardo did completely innocently and with no intention to offend. The only thing most white people understand about racism nowadays is not to mention anything to do with race but not why they shouldn't.

He didn't intend to offend using the word coloured. That word was used for years by people of his generation and was considered perfectly acceptable. At some point in the recent past it became unacceptable but without white people being made aware of it. What was the cut-off date? I can remember Rio Ferdinand giving out about the use of it on BT a few years ago but that's my entire knowledge on the subject.


He went on to explain he was aware of
his error from having spent time in usa...

Absolute nonsense to try and argue he didn't know about these words no longer being acceptable. I am 10 years older than him and know only too well as do most other people of my generation.

like you have just said,"

his error",does every "error" have to end in dismissal?
kick it out will be disappointed until they get their way and all the old white dinosaurs are "kicked out"

I am always intrigued about the shootings, thousands of stabbings and gangs in London  and carrying knives-  none of the wokes seem to have any interest in this but happy to thrust one in this geezers back  - says it all for me  - none of the usual London politicos do not seem to have anything to say about it.

sssshhhh

old habits die hard sparrow, get off your high horse.

I'm older than him and he might fool you but not all of us.

His excuse doesn't make sense. He claimed that spending years "working" in the USA led to him getting accustomed to using the term "of colour" which is acceptable, citing this as the main reason why he used the term "coloured" which is not acceptable. If he had used the term "of colour" he would not have been made to resign. If he was familiar with the term "of colour", why didn't he use that term? Maybe he didn't mean to cause offence, but the fact that he used such an outdated term is indicative of the fact that he was in a job (no doubt a very lucrative one) for which he was poorly suited. The nub of it is that he is gravy trainer who has been getting way with it for years (there are many more, of course). He will walk away an even wealthier person than he already was, and should count his lucky stars to have had such a privileged position for so long without much scrutiny, even getting away with a similar gaffe 3 years ago. Also incidentally, in front of a Parliamentary committee, an occasion that should have engendered the highest levels of preparation and professionalism. To make such a gaffe (considering the importance and level of responsibility concomitant with his job, not to mention the over-inflated salary he received) in that context was incredibly stupid the first time, but to do it again is totally unacceptable.

the guy resigned, it wasn't like he was sacked or anything like that ...

give the guy a break ,when he used the term ""coloured ",it was in a sentence saying how bad it was about the abuse they sometimes suffer.
That has been forgotten,the woke brigade are far worse than anyone when it comes to intolerance ,they want anyone who doesnt use the correct terminology to pay a price for it ,or lose their job ,its not about education anymore ,they want blood.

"woke brigade" another new term to go along with "snowflake" "virtue signalling" and whatever they invent next week.

It’s always interesting to read the comments of those who have clearly never held positions of responsibility.
Ignorance is bliss.

most of you must have lived really sheltered lives.

Sitting here with your pitch forks out for an old dude of his time staring down the barrel of a camera in front of a committee and you think he was trying to be racist, ffs.

Real racism is people who go out of their way to use thee most offensive racial slurs/terms, refuse people jobs because they have African sounding names and belong to far right groups who want a so called white indigenous population. I'm usually the first to call people like this out, this fat bloke from a bygone era should be the last on your hitlist, as Lurka says it does indeed come down to education, but they way in which he and other alike are quickly hounded out of jobs because of Anti this and that group piling public pressure on in order to validate their positions and salary is really irritating because it's predictable they will get this wish every time and nobody in the media says anything.

I also cannot believe I've just been reading this from Trevor Sinclair "Greg Clarke’s ‘archaic language reminded me of Apartheid’" FFS this guy lost his job with the BBC after being RACIST

the usual are in overdrive on sky sports   ---  I mean  - have you ever seen women's footall.   The last ones I saw bar one was the women's chamionship quarter and semis  -  absolutely dreadful standard and yet they continue to 'big'  it up whilst lashing out at anything not woke.

You see the irony is Mr Clarke was probably trying to be nice

he's probably right about schoolgirls not liking having the ball kicked at them hard. had it kicked hard at me a few times, right in the nuts.  fairly unpleasant.

mr clarke has been bullied out of a job.the irony.one way street this.

minority worship must be enforced , we don’t live in a tolerant or secular society
It’s just s very dangerous form of intolerance

You have seen them praying on the football field kneeling in the new cathedrals ?

Any blaspheming will not be tolerated

I refuse to watch them

Although I do watch the football

Blows some of the arguments on here out of the water.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1326459417076883456

Farewell then, Greg Clarke. You were The One Who Said Stupid Stuff. Not to be confused with The One Who Also Said Stupid Stuff. Not to mention the one at the other place with the inappropriate text messages. Or the one who tried to change stuff but eventually gave up. Or the one who resigned in frustration. Not forgetting the one who had an embarrassing, but ultimately irrelevant, office affair.

You get the leaders you deserve, it is often said. Scanning the indecorous modern history of English football administration it is tempting to wonder what crime, what appalling feat of moral indecency, the national sport has committed to deserve this. The resignation of FA chairman Clarke on Tuesday evening was inevitable after his disastrous appearance before MPs that afternoon. This was a performance so ill-judged, so brain-manglingly stupid that words such as laughable or clown-like fail to do it justice.

To insult just one under-represented section of football’s parish with words better suited to a laughter-tracked 1970s sitcom could be considered careless. To insult another – The Gays: Just Playing Silly Buggers – in the same brief public appearance looks like compound idiocy. To insult a third – The Women: delicate flowers – at the same time looks like some kind of pathological condition or, at best, a piece of satirical performance art, Borat in a blazer.

Sadly, Clarke is not a clown. This is real. He is, or was, the chairman of the body that oversees England’s beloved, cherished, flawed, but vital game. In this role he was appointed, enabled and tolerated by everybody else who remains in the FA’s executive tier. If Clarke talks like this in front of politicians with cameras present, just imagine what he’s like in private.

It is still necessary to be very clear about these things. Does it matter if a man in his 60s uses the wrong words? For all the shared outrage on your timeline, there will be plenty who say this is not the problem it seems. They will argue using outdated language while trying to express broadly sympathetic and progressive ideas should not be a sacking offence.

The case for Clarke’s defence, then. When he referred to “coloured footballers” (to be clear: in the year 2020) he was, in fairness, trying to express sympathy with those who suffer structural barriers. When he previously described institutional racism and bullying allegations in the Eni Aluko case as “fluff” he was referring to the specific allegations in that case, not to the general concepts. This may be true. It is also irrelevant, as Clarke’s own resignation does at least acknowledge.

Words speak to deeper truths – and this is a note of progress to be absorbed, in particular by those above a certain age. Conquering racism, sexism or homophobia is not simply a matter of eradicating outright abuse, of ceasing to be the golf club sex pest, of retiring your Larry Grayson. Beyond the words is a reality of hard, ossified structures and an obligation among those in power to approach these with kindness, leadership and a will to go further, to raise the bar higher all the time.

This is doubly, triply the case for those in power in sport. Words like these from Clarke’s office have a structural significance; not micro-aggressions but macro-aggressions. For the head man at the FA not to get this is like the CEO of Apple not knowing how to turn on his Mac.

And so we come back to sport, to football, and to those old familiar questions. It is a constant source of bafflement that inequalities of opportunity and resources should still exist within English football, which has everything – finances, a captive audience – but which still seems to function so narrowly. Why are grassroots facilities so poorly provided when they should be exemplary? Why is women’s football, the football of half the populace, playing catch-up to such a degree? Why are there so few people of south Asian heritage in the sport? Why are black administrators and managers still so scarce? Why don’t these issues ever simply go away? Or in other words – the words of the newly departed FA chairman – why are coloured people and cowardly chicks so under-represented in my organisation? Beats me, old chap. Beats me.

This is the wider issue. In so much of UK sport the management tier does not represent either those it should serve or indeed the whole point of t he activity. It is worth noting Clarke’s qualifications for running English football, for taking on a role that is at bottom a matter of public service. Clarke is involved in private equity. Clarke worked for Lend Lease and Cable & Wireless. He served on the board of Bupa. A successful career in monetising goods and services: but this has little to do with the social goals of a not-for-profit body charged with nourishing the shared sporting health of the nation.

Until UK Sport stops putting semi-retired sales and business people in its most senior positions it will continue to fulfil only one aspect of its remit. These are not sales roles. They affect how we function, how we feel, and despite what the 1980s might have told us, the world is not simply made up of customers and shareholders.

Sport has been geared this way since the 1990s, when business people as managers seemed an attractive alternative to “the Blazers”, cobwebbed committee men with their own sinecures to protect. So we got a shot of ageing self-made Thatcherite energy. We got Giles Clarke instead of rhubarb and custard ties, Greg Clarke instead of Bert Millichip and submission to the idea those who have been forceful enough to join the executive class must be best qualified to run all things, that the skills set of a commodity trader is transferable to industries where the public good is involved.

By their resignation notes shall we know them. Clarke didn’t even get this right, producing an equivocal non-apology that suggested leaving the office he has seriously harmed with his comments was his own idea.

For now his departure may feel like progress, but until there is structural, and indeed philosophical change, in the notion of what successful leadership looks like, it is likely to be little more than a change of name on the door.

I’m pretty sure George Clarke was part of this practice of kneeling?

Lol , serves him right ... no one is safe

You have to be on the ball 24/7 , that seems like a lot of trouble
It’s not comfortable , and I must admit I like comfort

I always remember when I had first started work at 16 in a factory and the foreman
was at times liable to shout and swear ( they called him the Tasmanian devil !
At one time one of the older workers lost the plot and had him down by the throat and holding a hammer
Thankfully the other workers were quick to react and rushed over and seperate them

Neither foreman nor worker lost their job
I always admired that foreman after that

the article sparrow posted is from a left wing Guardian newspaper sports writer, so his thoughts is par for the course, pandering to its readers. Most of which is just really unnecessarily over articulated points.

I do agree however you need the right fit for a job, I much prefer sports people in sports peoples roles, someone like Stan Collymore who as overbearing as he can be, would have the intellect to be trained up to do such roles, though hitting a women in the past may put a stop to that. Same as FIFA, Figo I think ran for the job, but it was given to another suit, following of from Blatter, absolute leaches.

May as well offer post to rashford.

scandanavian_haven 12 Nov 20 11:38   
Most of which is just really unnecessarily over articulated points.







Well suited to many on this thread then.

sparrow
Date Joined: 20 Jul 02
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Well suited to many on this thread then.














no

There is nothing better than working for yourself.

better sign on the dole then lfc hadn't you

Where do I start?

Plus! you should always aspire to make yourself dispensable
anything else is going to cause major problems in life

Turn into Liquid soap?

I was n South Africa recently and the term "coloured" was the name given to mixed race people.
They used that word to describe themselves and is no way deemed to be derogatory.
No wonder no-one knows what they can and not say these days!

What a state this country is in , please reinstate Mr Clarke and give him a full apology
Then the rest of the world would look on in wonder and admiration at Great Britain once again

He used the wrong word

Let me guess - most, if not all, of those defending Clarke are not black, female or gay and therefore he hasn't described you in a derogatory way.

The point is, is it really too much to expect the head of such a massive organization as the F.A. to be a bit more up to speed? It's another example of why more people who aren't middle-aged white men should be involved at all levels of the game, as well as other sports, businesses etc.

As someone in this article about Brentford's diversity says, "If you're all the same person, all thinking the same, guess what? You're going to wake up tomorrow and you're going to all think the same again."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54911260

He didn’t describe them in a derogatory way

^are you black, female or gay?

not to lfc, I know he's a women, at least he dresses up as one.

Yes scand I like to do household tasks and mend my own jacket also
Sometimes I have thought to myself that I might be a girl ,
but of course , I’m not a real girl

I wasn't defending Clarke, I don't particularly like the guy and it's prob a good thing for the FA that he's gone, I just don't think anyone should lose their job or be vilified for what was clearly an innocent mistake and not meant to cause offence. Being vilified for relaying the hearsay words of a third party coach re young female players is even worse again.

I am also against the approach of Kick it Out being 'disappointed' and looking down their nose at people who clearly don't understand and don't mean to cause offence, basically calling them ignorant. It is a ridiculous approach for an organisation whose entire purpose is to rid football of racism as it does nothing to educate the 'ignorant'. Ignorant - adjective, lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated or unsophisticated.

They can keep taking a knee, putting 'black lives matter' on shirts and our tv screens and having players warm up in 'kick it out' t-shirts for another 35 years and they'll make as little progress as they did in the last 35.

He resigned very quickly

Long before he was vilified

There is nothing to be aware of , as long as one is polite and courteous etc
That is all Mr Clarke was guilty of

black , coloured , white ,pale,  pink, people of colour , brown

they need to pick a word and stick with it , no problem then

Double standards as always in these types of non incident.

Trevor Sinclair, shouting loud with his big chip- sacked from BBC ( thats tough in itself) for racism.

Paul Elliot quit Kick it Out campian, for racial insults.

Both lining up to complain about Clarke.

it is all very well but have any of you ever watched women playing football  -  I saw the height of eropean championship recently - several games I bet on and the quality was awful (but I won moeney)

Best outcome here would have been a brief apology from Clarke and a brief thank you from KIO for the acknowledgement. Everyones a winner.

Though of course if hes useless at the job he shouldnt have been there in the first place

i intend to offend no one here, but im sure i will, but,

i also thought that coloured was the word to use
MOST  gays it is a life choice,  ie  GARETH THOMAS eg
and of course girls hated the ball to be kicked hard at them, my sister did anyway.

and i watched j carragher slag this man on morning tv the other day, spitting into a kids face is worse by miles to what this man did IMO

great point about carragher.i said on here the other day i thought that word was ok. there again i am a dinosaur

Given the position that Clarke held, there is no excuse for him being unaware of what is and isn’t suitable language.

AGREE there angooste, but at least he was honest and not like most making a living  by saying the PROPER  thing

I really don't understand the problem here as the people are proud to be black, want to be called black so why not call them black instead of this outdated South African term?
I was taught to call them coloured before this fool Clarke was even born as at the time the word black was deemed offensive but this has long since changed.

OK GENUINE QUESTION HERE, if im white, and viv richards is black, what do we call others for eg , pakistan, china, are they what.
again im seriously not being offensive here

The most ridiculous aspect to this debate is the vast majority of black people have brown skin unless I have colour blindness or should it be a person of colour blindness... lets ensure we get the terminology right in saying someone is a different skin tone to reality or someone may be offended again.

ps ,girls dont like ball kicked hard at them, i wondered how many england women cricket    players would like to face holding, garner and co even these days

wolf. ian wright tonight looked white to me

doubtful or he would be named Ian white

.... An interesting situation.... Mr Pearce the  current number two... Probably early seventies, probably not stupid enough to want the poison chalice.... Just as likely to provide a similar fraupaus...

slightly off topic, but to sparrow, DO NOT MISS TALKING PICS 3.25 PM TOMORROW, ONE OF THE GREATS
THE BOYS , brilliant film, ill post on talk pics as well

I have seen the post on talkin pics., elisjohn.

An interesting article:

Why the term 'people of colour' is offensive to so many

https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/adam-why-the-term-people-of-colour-is-offensive-to-so-many

Interesting that the author is obsessing over correct terminology so why using this critical spotlight to castigate other language does he say he is black when his skin is clearly brown? Simply because the west has adopted the term of black doesn't make it correct as he seems to be overly pedantic on telling us about everything else abhorrent with  the modern day culture yet ignores the big white elephant ( black elephant to avoid Angoose crying again) that his skin is brown not black.

big white elephant in the room *

Perhaps it's time people were treated as individuals and people stopped obsessing over what colour individuals are

Come to think of it

I dont think I have ever seen a white man

John Lewis Xmas adverts been released this morning. Someone's already kicked off about all the snowmen being white

It is an attempt to turn the men's game into a non contact soccerball theme (please don't touch me and the rolling and screaming already here)- they have already started - look at the hairdos for starters.  Then the women can take over.

Now,  if we are talking about the ladies who play rugby it is different gravy.  They really mean it an go for it. Seriously enthusiastic.  It's on BBC2  1pm  kick off 1.15 - don't worry it is all very safe so all you delicate flowers out there will get apologies from the commentators when they swear (which the do a lot)   - I love it.

SATURDAY 14th nov