FA....

[catcherintherye]

From the BBC....

Warning: This report contains offensive language.

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.

"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 said.

I'm not sure I've ever used the word "coloured" mate. I'm not sure someone heading up an organisation in 2020 should be using that sort of language either.

The FA need to get people employed who are in the 21st century on such questions.

 

[gwladysnight]

I'm not sure I've ever used the word "coloured" mate. I'm not sure someone heading up an organisation in 2020 should be using that sort of language either.

The FA need to get people employed who are in the 21st century on such questions.

Surely the FA have a duty of care to ensure that all employees properly understand diversity. It isn't difficult, as a BAME individual I find it depressing that Clarke is being forced to resign. The answer is education and not the vilification of individuals.

Clarke will get a pay off, the FA will pay someone else an exorbitant salary and nothing will change apart from a bit of window dressing. That money could be better spent on diversity training and providing their employees with a better understanding of the problem.

 

[barneygumble]

I think the term “coloured”, isn’t that offensive personally, it’s just extremely uneducated.
Naturally was a term used when referring to anyone of a different ethnicity to ourselves.

But I’m also not leader of one of the biggest companies in the country, Europe, the world making those comments.

Then mentioned stereotypes and made sexist remarks, absolutely terrible by the fella.

Hire the best person for the job not a jobs for the boys job or a token gesture by appointing someone of an ethnic background just because.

 

[Yank]

That's basically it. If you want to head up a big organisation these days, with a multi cultural influence you best have some idea of what is or isnt acceptable.

"Coloured" hasnt been acceptable for some time. In a way it's not his fault, hes a man of his time. It sort of shows where the FA is at though.

Why doesn't dude just go back to the Tottenham board.

 

[anton66]

Fairly sure someone got offended by that comment. Watch out mate, your job's now on the line!

I’m sure mate will offend someone.
mate>chum>bummer.

 

[tommye]

Gobsmacked that in 2020 this still needs explanation as to why it's offensive.

I think the term “coloured”, isn’t that offensive personally, it’s just extremely uneducated.
Naturally was a term used when referring to anyone of a different ethnicity to ourselves

The term was used to segregate and subjugate.

Go and educate yourself

 

[davids]

I think most of us, even trying to make sure we didn’t use a ‘wrong’ expression, would have made a similar mistake at some point. I’m glad to be retired......

We live in a society where learning to walk on eggshells should be a lesson in every s

But if you were still running some big organisation, with a range of genders and race as employees, I would like to think you would verse yourself in the correct ways to refer to them.

And I would also doubt you would suggest that any gay or lesbian employees had made a lifestyle choice.

Then sit in front of a Commons panel, and show that in fact, you hadnt done any of that.

Shows how far out of the loop I am,for me gay and lesbian are the same or is the word gay gender specific? My friend who I always thought of as a gay man now tells me he's a queer,still give it a week and the terminology will have shifted.

 

[peteblue]

...

I'm not sure I've ever used the word "coloured" mate. I'm not sure someone heading up an organisation in 2020 should be using that sort of language either.

The FA need to get people employed who are in the 21st century on such questions.

Indeed. While I have a degree of sympathy for the man I have no sympathy for the position he held. The FA is front and centre in the visibility rankings regarding inclusivity, for all people of all backgrounds. For the job holder not to understand this and demonstrate what he expects others to do is a failure of the role, and for that he had to go. Football is a different game to twenty, even ten, years ago and it needs people who understand it’s new requirements. In the same way that Sky got rid of all the old commentators, the FA really needs to bring in people who understand and can relate to this new environment. There really does come a time, even in the hard nosed world of industry, where the baton has to be passed to a younger generation......

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

I'm a white, heterosexual, middle-aged working class man with little in the way of formal education bar a couple of C's at GCSE. I live in a overwhelming majority white town and have no black friends. I work in a low pay manual labour role and am not in role providing leadership or guidance to others.

Even I know that "coloured people" is an inappropriate term, female footballers aren't scared of a ball being hit hard and homosexuality is not "a lifestyle choice".

The FA Chairman shouldn't be struggling with such basics, especially when his work is explicitly focused on those issues. It's entirely right he chooses to resign as he's clearly not up to the task at hand and seemingly chooses not to educate himself or show a little consideration in the language he chooses to use.

It's not difficult to keep up if you want to. It's even less difficult to bask in the dubious glory of wilful ignorance and wear it as some kind of badge of honour.

Greg Clarke is another who exemplifies what is wrong with the upper echelons of our class society, they don't have a clue and really don't care.

 

[catcherintherye]

...


Indeed. While I have a degree of sympathy for the man I have no sympathy for the position he held. The FA is front and centre in the visibility rankings regarding inclusivity, for all people of all backgrounds. For the job holder not to understand this and demonstrate what he expects others to do is a failure of the role, and for that he had to go. Football is a different game to twenty, even ten, years ago and it needs people who understand it’s new requirements. In the same way that Sky got rid of all the old commentators, the FA really needs to bring in people who understand and can relate to this new environment. There really does come a time, even in the hard nosed world of industry, where the baton has to be passed to a younger generation......

Yes all of that really. You've ran (what sound very successful) businesses. I'm sure when you employed a sales Director, or a HR director or whatever you expected a certain standard and awareness of how they held themselves while they were representing your company publicly. Whatever you privately felt about that, if you want those top positions it's your job to be aware of certain things.

Not knowing the difference between "people of colour" and "coloured" is a pretty basic one, if you want to represent an organisation at the top end. If you're down the pub with your mates, thats one thing, but when you are "on the job" a degree of professionalism is needed.

I saw something from Richard Keys (who I can go either way on to be honest) when he talked about Tyddlesley and he basically had no sympathy for him, but essentially said, football and business moves on and you have to accept that with a degree of dignity. He had accepted he was moved on from Sky he just didn't like how it was done, but he understood why it was done. Successful companies very rarely get stuck in a certainmoment, they are always wanting to get ahead of the next curve.

The FA pretty consistently look like an organisation that is behind every curve. There's a lot of sympathy as to whats happened to both the FA Cup and the erosion of their role on the national game, but I do think a lot of that is basically that they have become very complacent and have no idea how to relate to the modern world, in the way that PL clubs have shown they can.

 

[peteblue]

Yes all of that really. You've ran (what sound very successful) businesses. I'm sure when you employed a sales Director, or a HR director or whatever you expected a certain standard and awareness of how they held themselves while they were representing your company publicly. Whatever you privately felt about that, if you want those top positions it's your job to be aware of certain things.

Not knowing the difference between "people of colour" and "coloured" is a pretty basic one, if you want to represent an organisation at the top end. If you're down the pub with your mates, thats one thing, but when you are "on the job" a degree of professionalism is needed.

I saw something from Richard Keys (who I can go either way on to be honest) when he talked about Tyddlesley and he basically had no sympathy for him, but essentially said, football and business moves on and you have to accept that with a degree of dignity. He had accepted he was moved on from Sky he just didn't like how it was done, but he understood why it was done. Successful companies very rarely get stuck in a certainmoment, they are always wanting to get ahead of the next curve.

The FA pretty consistently look like an organisation that is behind every curve. There's a lot of sympathy as to whats happened to both the FA Cup and the erosion of their role on the national game, but I do think a lot of that is basically that they have become very complacent and have no idea how to relate to the modern world, in the way that PL clubs have shown they can.

Indeed. The term ‘old men in blazers’ still seems apt for the FA, but that may be doing them a disservice.....

 

[brigadier]

Greg Clarke resigned over poor use of words but didn't mind when 30.000 liverpool fans racially abused evra at anfield , laughable.

 

[kenada_blue]

Surely the FA have a duty of care to ensure that all employees properly understand diversity. It isn't difficult, as a BAME individual I find it depressing that Clarke is being forced to resign. The answer is education and not the vilification of individuals.

Clarke will get a pay off, the FA will pay someone else an exorbitant salary and nothing will change apart from a bit of window dressing. That money could be better spent on diversity training and providing their employees with a better understanding of the problem.

Good points.

But I do think he's seen an opportunity to get out and has done. Like you say, he'll get paid well. Will be forgotten about when someone else comes in rather than learn the lesson.

 

[kenada_blue]

I think the term “coloured”, isn’t that offensive personally, it’s just extremely uneducated.
Naturally was a term used when referring to anyone of a different ethnicity to ourselves.

But I’m also not leader of one of the biggest companies in the country, Europe, the world making those comments.

Then mentioned stereotypes and made sexist remarks, absolutely terrible by the fella.

Hire the best person for the job not a jobs for the boys job or a token gesture by appointing someone of an ethnic background just because.

Very true. I wouldn't say its entirely uneducated as in depends on your age and when you grew up.

70s and 80s it was seen more polite to call someone "coloured" than it was to say Black etc and was looked at more favourable. Then the development of that term was "people of colour" which some find offensive now.

As with most things now, people link the offense rather than the context. In this case, is Clarke racist? No. Did he mean harm? No. Should have used different language? Yes. Therefore, as @Gwladys Nights says, pull it up, re-educate, make changes, not rip the whole thing down.

 

[peteblue]

Very true. I wouldn't say its entirely uneducated as in depends on your age and when you grew up.

70s and 80s it was seen more polite to call someone "coloured" than it was to say Black etc and was looked at more favourable. Then the development of that term was "people of colour" which some find offensive now.

As with most things now, people link the offense rather than the context. In this case, is Clarke racist? No. Did he mean harm? No. Should have used different language? Yes. Therefore, as @Gwladys Nights says, pull it up, re-educate, make changes, not rip the whole thing down.

As a black woman, I hate the term 'people of colour'

Although the term feels politically correct, it’s inclusive and is better than the previously used ‘coloured’, I am still not here for it

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