I totally understand that words can be insulting. Intention and context is important though. It was decision for the FA and Greg to determine whether the words he used were sufficiently offensive for him to lose his job. I think he probably would not have resigned if football wasn't dealing with a racism problem right now and he wasn't in the public facing job he was. So I applaud his decision. It should give a message that the FA has an absolute zero tolerance to racism, whether intended or not, within the organisation. It should be seen as a positive. That is why the hand ringing by the media, the decrying of Greg and the somber question "does this undermine the FA's message?" coming from too many commentators is completely wrong. The opposite reaction is more appropriate imo. It's refreshing for someone to accept responsibility for their actions, even if unintended, and resign for the greater good.
You're right when you say that the Manchester security guard and Rotherham police neglected their respective duty. But in both cases the fear of appearing racist was at the heart of the decision to do nothing - which is perhaps understandable when we live at a time when it is considered appropriate that someone should forfeit their livelihood and be very publicly vilified for saying 'coloured people' instead of 'people of colour'.
You are saying that the gay columnist is wrong, so you obviously think you are more qualified than she is. Fair enough, at least we know you consider yourself an expert. You ignore my point that I think he was only making a comment about footballers coming out. Then you say that a statement is not acceptable, but seem incapable of explaining why, it should just be accepted because you say so. I want to learn, and engage in debate about the subject, you just want to tell us all how we should behave to your standards, with no debate. I think it is quite clear from this exchange who it is that has "fixed views", and it isn't me.
True. Perhaps I should have said "the" decision! Certainly it would have been a joint decision at the very least.
At first he just apologised then maybe someone gave him a little nudge to go further and quit. I don’t think he will be particularly missed generally .
Yes I have now seen the footage. Perhaps the FA will appoint a black ex player such as Rio or Paul Elliot or maybe even a woman,let's hope they select the best candidate. David Bernstein tried his best but if the FA Council is anything like its tennis counterpart it is an unenviable task. In Hertfordshire the election of a councillor to the ngb is a closed shop,one which the clubs have no voting rights. In Kent tennis clubs have been able to suggest members for the Kent board and therefore to stand for the ngb. Hertfordshire,with all its attendant safeguarding problems has not followed this route and is open to criticism. Next year the LTA will undertake a review of county governance,Hertfordshire will come under great scrutiny. Whomever replaces Mr Clarke one must have some degree of sympathy for the over zealous wishes of some in HR. In the penultimate tutor training that I attended we had a whole module on the new language that we were all to use. 'Normal' was not permitted nor was 'able bodied' it was replaced with 'non disabled'. As of today I have not heard one person in public life say 'non disabled' so I'm beginning to think I imagined the whole episode. 'Normal' seems to be in constant use too. Odd.
why should we need to appoint a black ex player, everyone should be employed on their merit , i am afraid to say that the current BLM is making me raciest.
Haha, racist but can't spell or punctuate your sentences properly. I think you have bigger problems. If you are racist, just be racist, don't use a genuine movement as a reason to hide your racism behind. ****.
The first comment on this is interesting.. ‘Racism is not a problem to be solved but a weapon to be used’.. BAME players are well over represented in professional football especially the EPL compared to the makeup of the British population. What are the FA doing about this issue? The world is slowly going mad..
Because 2020. We are an the age of people desperately searching and hoping for things to be offended by. This "controversy" around the new Witches film is a great one. Absolutely beyond f**king ridiculous.
In itself it doesn't do much, but it is a constant reminder that things need to change to achieve equality, so in that sense it is well worth continuing with.
We've got the two extremes here. On the one hand top professional players earn their place in Premiership squads almost entirely through merit, on how good they are and race is not an issue at all - as far as I know. On the other hand those running the game at the top are mostly 'old boys network' types, elderly white men who, based on Clarke's performance, can't even get the language of equality right when promoting diversity! Appointing a successor to Clarke in the current media glare will be impossible - greeted with either 'PC gawn mad' or 'what a surprise, another old white bloke'. Maybe it's a good opportunity to dismantle the whole leadership structure and appoint a task force to start something new and inclusive from scratch, to show they are really committed to diversity rather than going for tokenism. I can't see the old guard easily letting go though!
**** me I love this forum but the amount of racists that pop out when any issue like this comes up never fails to surprise me. Sad and to think some of you lot probably have someone’s job prospects in your hands. Scary. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I love this forum too, but I'm constantly surprised by how often posters throw nasty, intolerant, allegations of racism about whenever there is a discussion on the subject instead of properly engaging in the discussion.
Wasn't that same security guard caught on camera moments later happily bopping along walking away from the scene? If you genuinely think somebody has a bomb you can't do that, speaking from experience. About a decade ago I was on a train to Uni and saw a man come on with a duffle bag, put it on the rack, and rummage around inside it. From my position I saw wires in the bag. He then left the bag and walked to a different carriage! So I reported it, regardless of his appearance, the train got stopped due to 'a technical fault' until BTP turned up. They searched the bag, turned out to be a mechanic with a battery and jump leads! But the officers thanked me and said it was the right thing to do. He wouldn't have been able to gleefully walk away, he'd have been shitting himself. It's just his story to help him sleep at night. Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk
Apart from a19tg's 'gammon' reference, I can't see any posts in this thread that even hint at racism. Tell us what the comment 'the amount of racists that pop out when any issue like this comes up never fails to surprise me' is based on, I'd love to know
Gammon more or less = bigot, it can hardly be racist unless all white men are gammon, which thankfully they aren’t. Try harder.
It'a an insult based on a person's skin colour, and is now widely considered to be racist. Language is evolving quickly, it's hard to keep up isn't it?
Ask yourself, are all white people gammon? And are all black people black? Calling a term used to describe out of touch intolerant bigoted people as racist is toddler standard levels of debate.
Whether you agree or not is irrelevant, the fact is 'gammon' is now deemed a racial slur. And if a section of society is offended by a word or term, isn't that enough for decent people to stop using it?
Equalities is a big issue in sport. Sport's big claim is that it is for all, a unifying cultural force. As much as no one wants a World where trivial mistakes lead to sackings rather than apologies, Clarke has gone because he is a leader who hasn't led well. He went to the Select Committee to speak for the sport and showed himself uncomfortable leading in this area, one which is very important to players and supporters alike. He'd clearly had notice of the issue for years, but failed to work it out in his head. It's a bit like the Chancellor getting the sums woefully wrong and the defence being 'c'mon chaps we all balls up on the maths now and then'. It's tough at the top and all that. It's likely he was in a perilous position for other reasons and being crap at the Select Committee was the final straw.
Isn't it an irony then that a key characteristic people of the 'g'-word share is a view that they should be able to express themselves how they like, about immigration, religion, transgender, disability etc etc and virtue-signalling, pc snowflakes should lump it?
