Was Greg Clarke’s Red Card Unfair?

So, Football Association chairman Greg Clarke has resigned over “unacceptable” language he used when referring to black players, that he has since said he was “deeply saddened” about.

He called them “coloured footballers” which yes is an outdated and offensive term, but if you take what he said in context, then some might be “deeply saddened” that he has gone.

Though the term suggested racism the context did not. Because the comments came as he was talking about racist abuse by trolls on social media to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee via video link.

So the context was inclusion and diversity in football, and he promptly apologised for using the word “coloured”, which he said was a case of tripping up over his words because when he works in the US, he is required to use the term “people of colour”.

He also caused offence by referring to Asians working in “IT” and to gay players as making a “life choice”.

But the “life choice” comment also needs to be taken in context. He might have some old fashioned ideas about what it is to be gay, but he also said: “Gay people in football should face no discrimination whatsoever and should have the support of their teammates”.  And yet the way the English press reported on this you’d think Clarke didn’t want gay people playing football at all – wow!

A for the “IT” comment, he said that there are “… a lot more South Asians than there are Afro-Caribbeans” in the FA’s IT department because “they have different career interests”.

Was this racism? No, not really. To be fair there are hardly any Asian players in the English football leagues, so you could say it was simply an observation.

Clarke has also offended some by saying that female footballers don’t like being hit in the face with a ball. Yes it’s a weird thing to say.  Women players are as professional as men and see a ball in th face as part of the job.  But to sack him over this comment as well just amazes me.