James Gordon
Clarke became chairman of the football association in August 2016.
The resignation of President Greg Clarke will not improve diversity within the football association, said former English defender Joleon Lescott.
Clarke resigned Tuesday after using inappropriate language when addressing black players.
Lescott described Clark’s comments as very disturbing and said that just thinking about them made him emotional.
One hundred percent of black players want to see changes, but that won’t happen, he said live on Radio 5.
The former defender of Manchester City believes that Clarke’s comments highlight the structural problems within the FA and believes that a successor may not be able to bring about real change.
I don’t think a 63-year-old man will use that expression for the first time in 2020, and that’s exactly the problem, he said.
So now we’re waiting for the next person online to hear this and participate. He’ll come forward now, and we expect this man to lead us.
How can we expect change when managers think the same or the same?
Clark’s language was outdated – PFA
Clarke spoke to the selection committee of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport department (DCMS) via a video link.
He used this term to refer to the racist abuse of players by trolls in social networks.
Clarke received further criticism for his comments about the life choices of gay players, the different career preferences of people from the black and Asian community, and the coach told him that young players don’t like to be hit hard.
According to former Huddersfield striker and Gillingham Yiffy Onuor, Head of Equal Opportunities at the Professional Football Association, more should be known about the effect of certain words and phrases and why they are offensive.
It’s so outdated. There are certain terms that we no longer use with regard to disabled people or homosexuals – we’ve moved on, he said live on Radio 5.
That sounds like a message. Don’t forget that FA members, like everyone else, look to the president to take the initiative, to give a voice and to lead some of the initiatives he takes.
Football is still controlled by whites – rabbits
Clark’s departure means that there are still nine people on the FA’s board of directors, including outgoing President Peter McCormick.
Four of them are women, and one belongs to the black and ethnic minorities (BAME).
This is in line with the reforms agreed by the FA in 2017, which increased BAME’s representation on the Executive Board to at least 10 percent, with 10 percent of the LGBT+ community and 40 percent of women represented.
He also promised to admit 11 new members to improve the diversity of the FA Council, which has 122 members and a majority of white men aged over 60.
Lady Heather Rabbats, who was the only woman and member of the Executive Board of BAME for five years before resigning in 2017, said that Clarke’s comments revealed a fault line in the sport.
The management and control of football, one of the most diverse matches in the world, is still largely controlled by whites, she said in Radio 4’s Today programme.
Are there any changes?
Manchester City’s former defender, Nedum Onaoha, said Clark’s comments were simply unacceptable.
Frankly, it’s outrageous – it sounds like he said 5 lives 20 or 30 years ago. This language was unsuitable for decades, which shows to some extent that he could live in an echo chamber where such things are acceptable to pronounce.
Gary Lynecker, host of the Match of the Day and former England striker, told ITV Good Morning that the organisation was full of old white men and that he believed that real change was only possible if the FA, the English Football League and the Premier League worked together.
Former Englishman John Barnes said that the problem of racism should be solved by society as a whole and not just by football.
A lot of people now see the problem as if it only concerns football, he told Radio Wales.
But if you look at the higher echelons of an educational institution, many white people over 50 have the same ideas. That’s society, and that’s what we have to fight, society as a whole.
The former President of the FA, David Bernstein, stated that Mr Clarke’s comments underlined the need for structural changes within the FA.
Bernstein was among those who launched the Save Our Beautiful Game manifesto for change this month, calling for a change in the Football Association and an independent regulatory body for English football.
Over the years the AF has gone through major changes and, frankly, if you have an organization that is not modern, that has not been updated, such things are much more likely, he said 5 Live.
I hope there are progressive people around the world moving in that direction. I think the FA needs to think very carefully about who will be invited to lead the organisation next time.
Clarke’s comments came only two weeks after the Football Association announced its new diversity code for football leaders, which aims to tackle racial inequality in English football.
Onuora believes that the code is a step in the right direction, but the incident highlights the need for further changes.
That’s not the answer to everything, he said. Behaviour must change, as must the way we discuss these things, as we have seen today.
But it’s a step in the right direction, and that’s what the code should propose.
Former Manchester United and England striker Andy Cole remains optimistic that we have to wait and see if the new code will have a positive effect.
We have to make progress now, he said at breakfast. I hope we’ll see what we’re going through, that progress is made within six months, and I want to see where we stand.
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