Football Association Greg Clarke has resigned as Football Association chairman following the language he used when talking to MPs about diversity.
Clarke used the term “coloured footballers” in a reference to black players when talking to members of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee.
He apologised after being prompted to say sorry by MP Kevin Brennan.
Clarke had been talking via video link about the racist abuse of players by trolls on social media.
He said: “People can see if you’re black and if they don’t like black people because they are filthy racists, they can abuse you anonymously online.
He had earlier spoken of the need to attract people into the sport from a range of communities.
“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,” said Clarke.
He prompted further criticism when referring to gay players making a “life choice” and a coach telling him young female players did not like having the ball hit hard at them.
Later an FA statement declared: “We can confirm that Greg Clarke has stepped down from his role as our chairman.”
“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.”
Following his resignation, Clarke said: “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 think he is of an age where for the majority of his life it would have been socially acceptable to refer to a black person as a coloured person. Then we were told you can’t say coloured person you have to say black person. Now more recently I have been hearing black people referring to themselves as a person of colour. It’s a bit confusing. Somebody please explain the difference between coloured person and person of colour so that more people can avoid getting sacked from their jobs for making the mistake of getting it the wrong way round. This stuff really is a minefield nowadays.
I understand your point but what Greg Clarke said went far beyond the use of the word ‘coloured’ as the report outlines. I don’t think much of the FA but, in my opinion, in this case his swift departure was the only good thing to come out of this sorry episode..
Benny – think it’s because the term “coloureds” was used as an abusive term in the past, so has negative connotations attached these days. An old black mate of mine once helpfully pointed out that we’re all “coloured” – just in different ways.
This guy is a public figurę and is surely old enough to know how to link the words together and also old enough to realise what effect they may have if not used wisely. He shouldn’t be missed and hopefully he won’t be.