Greg Clarke "Filthy Racist" Resigns

Dirk Diggler · 10 Nov 2020 at 17:45

I think it's a classic case of right guy, wrong era. But this quote made me LOL.

He was clearly trying too hard.

"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.

BBC News - Greg Clarke resigns as Football Association chairman after remark about black players
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54894864

jsmoke · 10 Nov 2020 at 17:48

Straight outta the 70s and 80s.

plasmahal · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:13

He was good in the inbetweeners, shame though....

Rotty · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:20

"If you go to the IT department of the FA, there's a lot more South Asians than there are Afro-Caribbeans. Said Clarke

Surely that's just a statement of fact

Dis86 · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:22

Rotty said:
"If you go to the IT department of the FA, there's a lot more South Asians than there are Afro-Caribbeans. Said Clarke

Surely that's just a statement of fact

Yeah, from the statements I've read I think he's been dealt with rather harshly. Wouldnt be surprised if he was given a large pay-off to make room for someone.

plasmahal · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:24

Rotty said:
"If you go to the IT department of the FA, there's a lot more South Asians than there are Afro-Caribbeans. Said Clarke

Surely that's just a statement of fact

Peoples feelings are more important than facts..

Please check your diversity training.

jpaul · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:25

before condemning him - I'd like to see his remarks in context ... no video on the bbc ?

Hades · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:29

I don't know him and I don't know the background to this. So I just looked him up on the BBC:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54894864

"Clarke said he was "deeply saddened" for the offence he had caused by using the term "coloured footballers"."

Was that really all he was sacked for, or is there more to it? The reason I ask is that when I was a child it was more offensive to call someone black than it was to call them coloured. The use of coloured being offensive in this country is a lot more recent and comes from the US. So it may just have been his childhood background, in which case an apology should have been sufficient. Or is there something I am missing?

Randomface74 · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:30

I don't get it - didn't black people want to be called coloured instead of black about 20 years ago? Now people are getting fired for it?

Rotty · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:30

jpaul said:
before condemning him - I'd like to see his remarks in context ... no video on the bbc ?

Video was on bbc news at 6 but you didn't see what his words were in reply too but it just seemed to be what some would deem a bad choice of words (I think most would not) rather than may intent

rare · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:33

Rotty said:
"If you go to the IT department of the FA, there's a lot more South Asians than there are Afro-Caribbeans. Said Clarke

Surely that's just a statement of fact

I thought the same thing. Why would anyone want a public high profile job these days. You can work hard for decades but use the term coloured and you are done. Not withstanding the fact that for many years ‘coloured’ was the preferred terminology. It actually still is, lots of people refer to themselves as a person of colour. Such nonsense.

bainbridge · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:36

His zoom meeting was featured in the news tonight. He was slammed for using the phrase "coloured".

He tried to explain part of his diversity training was referring to "people of colour" as "coloured" but the damage was apparently done.

It's like a contest for who can be the most politically correct.

wesimmo · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:38

If you read the article on the BBC site, this isnt his first flirtation with racism, and he also threw a little misogyny and homophobia in there too.

jpaul · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:38

billysielu said:
Now people are getting fired for it?

yes, now listened to the labour mp - bleeding his self-ritcheous criticism of clark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-WpHgGTGkM

rare · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:40

rare said:
I thought the same thing.

wesimmo said:
If you read the article on the BBC site, this isnt his first flirtation with racism, and he also threw a little misogyny and homophobia in there too.

I don’t see anything racist about what he said. Is the word coloured racist now? But a person can call themselves a person of colour?

wesimmo · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:41

rare said:
I don’t see anything racist about what he said. Is the word coloured racist now? But a person can call themselves a person of colour?

Why dont you read the article before making uniformed posts?

d_brennen · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:42

plasmahal said:
Peoples feelings are more important than facts..

Please check your diversity training.

This is comically true of the "training" I've been through lately.

BaZ87 · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:43

The full video can be watched here:

https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/b1320a9a-10a1-4913-9369-041b96446342

There was more than just the coloured remark also. He made questionable remarks about girls in football, the South Asian remark (which wasn't simply a statement of fact about those employed by the FA but a generalisation of all South Asians having different career interests) and also about gay players.

His position at the FA was hanging by a thread already after his involvement in Project Big Picture. When this was leaked he was quick to release a statement about how terrible it was only for it to be revealed that not only was he involved in Project Big Picture, he was the man that instigated the whole thing. He hadn't just ****ed off the rest of the FA board and smaller Premier League sides, he ended up ****ing off the EFL and bigger PL sides when he tried to pretend he had nothing to do with it.

rare · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:44

wesimmo said:
Why dont you read the article before making uniformed posts?

I already did.

Hades · 10 Nov 2020 at 18:49

wesimmo said:
If you read the article on the BBC site, this isnt his first flirtation with racism, and he also threw a little misogyny and homophobia in there too.

Ok let's pick through the BBC article quotes because I genuinely want to understand it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54894864

Clarke said he was "deeply saddened" for the offence he had caused by using the term "coloured footballers".

As I said above, it only seems to be recently that the term is generally accepted as offensive. It may have simply been accidental.

"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," Clarke said.

Isn't that actually defending black people? Isn't he saying that racists can see black people and abuse them online anonymously ?

"If you go to the IT department of the FA, there's a lot more South Asians than there are Afro-Caribbeans. They have different career interests."

Presumably it is a fact that there are more South Asian people and Afro-Carribeans? I'm guessing it's a true statement although I don't personally know. The last part of the quote, about different interests, may or may not be true but I don't see that offering an opinion on the reason for differing numbers of people is justification for losing a job.

He prompted further criticism when referring to gay players making a "life choice"

That one is a bit questionable. But I'd probably want to see more of the quote to understand the full context of what he's saying.

and a coach telling him young female players did not like having the ball hit hard at them.

Isn't he just recanting what someone else said to him? It even says "a coach telling him".