Greg Clarke has resigned as FA chairman following a disastrous parliamentary appearance in which he made reference to ‘coloured footballers’ among a host of other offensive gaffes.
As MailOnline revealed on Tuesday afternoon the 63-year-old immediately came under pressure from inside Wembley to quit and after canvassing the opinions of other Board members came to the conclusion that he had no option but to stand down immediately.
In his resignation statement Clarke admitted that comments in which he also stereotyped south Asians and described homosexuality as a ‘life choice’ were ‘unacceptable,’ but claimed to have been considering the FA for some time.
In the short-term he will be replaced by long-serving Board member Peter McCormick as interim Chairman, giving the FA time to run a formal process to identity a permanent successor, in which they are committed to interviewing BAME candidates under the terms of Football Leadership Diversity Code they launched last month.
Clarke was instrumental in the FA’s development of the code, which includes specific targets for inclusive recruitment policies and has been adopted by 19 Premier League clubs, but his words failed match his actions.
In an extraordinary appearance via video link in front of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee yesterday morning Clarke used the phrase ‘coloured footballers’ when discussing online racial abuse and claimed that South Asians and Afro-Caribbean people have ‘different career interests’ by citing the make-up of the FA’s IT department.
He was also criticised for saying a coach had told him that the lack of women’s goalkeepers was due to girls not liking the ball being kicked at them, while Stonewall UK was among those who condemned his suggestion that being gay was a ‘life choice’.
Clarke offered an apology for the ‘coloured’ remark soon afterwards after being prompted to do so by Kevin Brennan MP, but this apparent contrition was not enough to assuage the anger of FA Board members and staff who have increasingly come to view the chairman as an embarrassing liability.
It is not the first time Clarke has made a race-related gaffe, as at a previous DCMS hearing in 2017 he described claims of institutional racism at the FA in the light of the Eni Aluko affair as ‘fluff.’
Clarke will also lose his position as a FIFA vice president as a result of leaving the FA four years after joining from the same role at the EFL, although the tone of his resignation statement was also criticised.
‘As a person who loves football and has given decades of service to our game, it is right that I put the interests of football first,’ Clarke said. ‘2020 has been a challenging year and I have been actively considering standing down for some time to make way for a new Chair now our CEO transition is complete and excellent executive leadership under Mark Bullingham is established.
‘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 would like to thank my friends and colleagues in the game for the wisdom and counsel they have shared over the years and resign from the FA with immediate effect.’
Clarke’s departure was welcomed by anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out, who had been among those exerting private pressure for him to go earlier in the day.
The Premier League and EFL will also be privately delighted at Clarke’s demise as both organisations have clashed with him recently over his role in the controversial Project Big Picture reform proposals for the top flight.
‘There were a lot of people in the FA very unhappy so his position became untenable,’ Kick It Out chief executive Sanjay Bhandari said. ‘If it had been just the one comment that would just about have been ok to continue but this was a grisly compilation of stereotypes.’
In his comments on Tuesday, Clarke said: ‘If I look at what happened to high-profile female footballers, high-profile coloured footballers.’
Clarke was asked by MP Kevin Brennan whether he wished to withdraw the use of the word ‘coloured’.
Brennan said: ‘Mr Clarke, diversity is not really the issue, is it? Football is diverse – it’s inclusion that’s the issue.
‘When you said something earlier on, I think I heard you refer to ‘coloured’ people – if that’s the case would you want to withdraw that language? Because isn’t that exactly the sort of language that means that inclusion is not a reality, even though football is very diverse and has many people in it from ethnic minority backgrounds and also people who are gay?’
Clarke responded: ‘If I said it, I deeply apologise. Secondly, I am a product of having worked overseas.
‘I worked in the USA for many years where I was required to use the term ‘people of colour’ because that was a product of their diversity legislation, positive discrimination format, so sometimes I trip over my words and I deeply apologise.’
But Clarke’s language on other topics during Tuesday’s appearance before MPs also caused discomfort.
He said: ‘If you look at top level football, the Afro-Caribbean communities are over-represented versus the South Asian community,’ Clarke said. ‘If you go to the IT department at the FA, there’s a lot more South Asians than there are Afro-Caribbeans. They have different career interests,’ he added, while also claiming that a coach once told him that young girls ‘don’t like the ball kicked at them hard’.
On the topic of gay players in football, Clarke said: ‘Anyone who runs out onto the pitch and on Monday says ‘I am gay, I am proud of it and I am happy and it’s a life choice and I have made it and my life is a better place because I have disclosed it’… I do believe they would have the support of their mates in the changing room.’
It is unclear if Clarke was referring to ‘a life choice’ over being gay or coming out.
His comments immediately drew fire on social media.
Clarke has been criticised before for the language that he has used when discussing racism
The Football Association promptly offered an apology for Clarke’s use of the word ‘coloured’
Julian Knight, the chair of the DCMS Committee, was clearly unimpressed by Clarke’s words
Clarke was slammed by footballers including including the former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor, Anton Ferdinand and Stan Collymore, who called his comments ‘flat out racial profiling’
Clarke appeared to pander to a series of racist and sexist stereotypes and also insinuated that being gay was a ‘life choice’ – although it is unclear whether he was referring to the decision to ‘come out’
Kick It Out responded with a damning statement after the interview emerged, branding the comments ‘lazy stereotypes’ and ‘casual sexism’ that represent ‘a big step backwards’ after other commendable work from the FA.
Clarke was also slammed by footballers including including the former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor, Anton Ferdinand and Stan Collymore, who called his comments ‘flat out racial profiling’.
Agbonlahor said: ‘So the FA chairman now calls us coloured footballers. How will racism end with people like him at the top?’
Former Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and England striker Stan Collymore wrote: ‘This is flat out racial profiling, is dangerous and if the FA don’t comment or act, they are complicit.
‘Seeing so many particularly white men commenting, ‘he’s nice, he’s just old, his heart is in the right place’, is why racism is moving forward, not in retreat. Always an excuse for it.’
Anton Ferdinand also criticised Clarke, tweeting: ‘I appreciate that the FA are doing some good work with their diversity campaign but it’s important the chairman Greg Clarke knows using the term ‘coloured footballers’ to reference people of ethnicity is unacceptable!!!! Clearly education is needed at all levels.’
Maria Munir, from LGBT charity Stonewall, called the comments ‘harmful’.
‘The language we use matters, which is why it’s a shame Greg Clarke used such a harmful phrase like ‘life choice’ to describe being gay,’ they said.
‘It was also deeply upsetting to hear the archaic words and stereotypes he used to describe Black and Asian people, along with sexist stereotypes about players from the women’s game.
‘We hope Greg Clarke and the FA will swiftly apologise for his comments – like they did for the words he used to refer to Black and Asian players today.’
Julian Knight, the chair of the DCMS Committee, said in response on Twitter: ‘It’s right that Greg Clarke apologised before the Committee, however, this isn’t the first time that the FA has come to grief over these issues. It makes us question their commitment to diversity.’
Kick It Out executive chair Sanjay Bhandari also condemned Clarke’s remarks, saying: ‘His use of outdated language to describe Black and Asian people as ‘coloured’ is from decades ago and should remain consigned to the dustbin of history.
‘Being gay is not a ‘life choice’ as he claimed too. The casual sexism of saying ‘girls’ do not like balls hit at them hard, is staggering from anyone, let alone the leader of our national game. It is completely unacceptable.’
The FA released a statement after Clarke’s appearance saying: ‘Greg Clarke is deeply apologetic for the language he used to reference members of the ethnic minority community during the select committee hearing.
‘He acknowledged that using the term ‘coloured’ is not appropriate and wholeheartedly apologised during the hearing.’
The governing body’s BAME staff are understood to have been horrified by the chairman’s comments, particularly given they come just two weeks after the FA launched a new Diversity Code featuring specific recruitment targets for all clubs, and they have the sympathy of many colleagues from all backgrounds.
‘There will be momentum for him to go,’ an FA insider told Sportsmail.
His resignation was later confirmed by the FA.
Clarke also faced pressure from the Premier League and the EFL, who have clashed with him over a number of issues lately including the impact of Brexit and the fall-out from the controversial Project Big Picture reform proposals for the top flight.
The 63-year-old’s role in those clandestine negotiations has angered many clubs and the EFL, while his position is not helped by the fact that he has made similar race-related gaffes in the past.
At a previous session of the DCMS select committee in 2017 into the FA’s handling of the Eni Aluko/Mark Sampson affair, Clarke infamously described institutional racism as ‘fluff’.
‘Language that belongs in the dustbin of history’: Kick It Out’s statement on Clarke
Sanjay Bhandari, Executive Chair at Kick It Out, says: ‘I was extremely disappointed to see Greg Clarke’s comments today in the DCMS Select Committee. His use of outdated language to describe Black and Asian people as ‘coloured’ is from decades ago and should remain consigned to the dustbin of history.
‘Being gay is not a ‘life choice’ as he claimed too. The casual sexism of saying ‘girls’ do not like balls hit at them hard, is staggering from anyone, let alone the leader of our national game. It is completely unacceptable.
Kick It Out executive chairman Sanjay Bhandari said he was ‘extremely disappointed’ with Clarke’s comments to the DCMS Select Committee
‘I was particularly concerned by the use of lazy racist stereotypes about South Asians and their supposed career preferences. It reflects similar lazy stereotypes I have heard has been spouted at club academy level.
‘That kind of attitude may well partially explain why South Asians are statistically the most under-represented ethnic minority on the pitch. We will be talking about this more later this week when we discuss some research to be released on Thursday.
‘Football needs to step up and address this lack of representation of South Asians on the pitch – there has been virtually no progress in 40 years. My experience as a South Asian is that we do not have different career aspirations, but we have different outcomes.
‘Talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not. The football bodies need to focus on spreading that opportunity evenly and removing the kind of systemic bias that these lazy stereotypes reflect.
‘I have seen the good work that the FA have been doing to create a more inclusive game, not least in the Diversity in Football Leadership Code. The FA has rightly been applauded for leading that effort.
‘But these comments indicate that more still needs to be done to challenge attitudes. For all the steps made forward recently, the comments expressed today are a big step backwards.’