Greg Clarke - former FA Chairman

[trmpton 1,133]

Interested in other peoples thoughts on today?

Personally I think it’s a massive overreaction.

Seems like he was in a high pressure situation and stumbled over his words slightly.  Immediately apologised and explained it was a term used in America when he worked there in line with their discrimination laws.

Which term was he supposed to have used instead?

[The Dog's Dangly Bits 1,709]

He's just another victim of the permanently offended 0movement that is ruining society.

[Max Power 6,408]

It's all gone way too far now, he should have said 'people of colour' instead of 'coloured people.' It's just unbelievable that the slight difference could be translated as a slur in any way! I haven't heard a single proper explanation for why such a thing should be considered racist, other than those who use it are 'uneducated dinosaurs!'

[TheTeapot 9,813]

He also said black people don't work in offices and girls don't like footballs being kicked at them.

He hasn't resigned for being a racist, he's resigned for being completely out of touch. Which anyone with a passing interest has known for years, this has just confirmed it.

[the stinking enigma 11,177]

He's a bit of a fool because they got Hansen the same way 10 or so years ago. Unfortunate though all the same, there was about a 5 year period where you couldn't say black.  coloured was the acceptable substitute. That's what caught Hansen out.

[The Dog's Dangly Bits 1,709]

20 minutes ago, Max Power said:

It's all gone way too far now, he should have said 'people of colour' instead of 'coloured people.' It's just unbelievable that the slight difference could be translated as a slur in any way! I haven't heard a single proper explanation for why such a thing should be considered racist, other than those who use it are 'uneducated dinosaurs!'

It's just bollocks. Coloured? Who cares? Easier perhaps to just say Not White and Not Male.

[The Dog's Dangly Bits 1,709]

9 minutes ago, TheTeapot said:

He also said black people don't work in offices and girls don't like footballs being kicked at them.

He hasn't resigned for being a racist, he's resigned for being completely out of touch. Which anyone with a passing interest has known for years, this has just confirmed it.

He actually was alluding to the demographic that work in certain areas. Which happens to be true.  He isn't particularly wrong about his assertion of young girls encouraged to play in goal either.

It would be much better if people like him simply told people to sort themselves out today (and perhaps get a fucking life)  rather than resign.

[the stinking enigma 11,177]

Absolutely should resign,but not over this 

[thommo2010 1,826]

16 hours ago, TheTeapot said:

He also said black people don't work in offices and girls don't like footballs being kicked at them.

He hasn't resigned for being a racist, he's resigned for being completely out of touch. Which anyone with a passing interest has known for years, this has just confirmed it.

I haven't heard what he said and the context of it all so can't really comment however  having done scientific research with my daughter that after sticking her in goals for an hour and leathering a ball at her I can confirm girls don't like having footballs kicked at them.

[Max Power 6,408]

Things such as this are more inclined to increase division rather than bring people together. It's safer to avoid 'people of colour' and not offer them jobs, friendship or any position in your life. How do we know what they are thinking about us, was there any action taken over the black tv comedian Sophie Ducker's 'we want to kill whitey' comments? Normally that would be taken as a joke, but the current climate has amplified every nuance in every conversation to the extent that we are more divided than ever on race in this country, in my opinion!  

[Declan 7,221]

16 hours ago, TheTeapot said:

He also said black people don't work in offices and girls don't like footballs being kicked at them.

He hasn't resigned for being a racist, he's resigned for being completely out of touch. Which anyone with a passing interest has known for years, this has just confirmed it.

At a meeting with a Parliamentry Committee that was discussing diversity in football. When he's chairman of the Football governing body, who've made diversity in football a key focus. Having been brought to task about his use of language in a previous appearance before the committee.  A listed company would ditch a CEO who appeared  before a regulator and demonstrated he was out of his depth on one of the key issues facing his industry.

(I get the impression he was going to resign soon anyway and this was the final nudge.)

[TheTeapot 9,813]

1 minute ago, Declan said:

At a meeting with a Parliamentry Committee that was discussing diversity in football. When he's chairman of the Football governing body, who've made diversity in football a key focus. Having been brought to task about his use of language in a previous appearance before the committee.  A listed company would ditch a CEO who appeared  before a regulator and demonstrated he was out of his depth on one of the key issues facing his industry.

(I get the impression he was going to resign soon anyway and this was the final nudge.)

Exactly. I don't understand what's so difficult for people to understand about why he had to go,although I have my suspicions.

[Roxanne 1,512]

18 minutes ago, TheTeapot said:

Exactly. I don't understand what's so difficult for people to understand about why he had to go,although I have my suspicions.

It's because a huge number of people think like this, talk like this, mix with other people who do the same.  It's because to them there is nothing wrong in thinking this way - they do it all the time - and so do those that they mix with.

I listened to his piece and I actually had some sympathy for him, what he said wasn't that bad, at least if he'd said it in the pub around the table with his friends.  There was no malice in his words, no intent to cause harm or to offend.  He almost certainly thought describing people as coloureds was the right thing to do as once it had been.  He's of the age where describing people of colour as coloureds was considered polite.

The sad thing is that he has done a lot of work within football to further diversification - he must be absolutely gutted right now that he's got this so very wrong.

How much nicer it would have been if he had been able to resign and move on to pastures new with no cloud hanging over him.  It's not going to happen now though, he'll be hounded to hell and back.

[manxman1980 1,550]

On 11/10/2020 at 9:21 PM, The Dog's Dangly Bits said:

He actually was alluding to the demographic that work in certain areas. Which happens to be true.  He isn't particularly wrong about his assertion of young girls encouraged to play in goal either.

It would be much better if people like him simply told people to sort themselves out today (and perhaps get a fucking life)  rather than resign.

There are plenty of measures of ethnic diversity in various industries, however, what you and Greg Clarke are doing is implying that this means that everyone has equal access these careers and industries.  Whilst in theory that may be true the reality is that discrimination still happens (just take a look at Employment Tribunal cases) and that not everyone has equal access due to hidden barriers such as access to a good education, the costs of attending higher education institutes or simply not having the contacts necessary to enter a particular industry.

For instance, any individual born into poverty, is less likely to be able to perform well at school, get the grades to progress to university (let alone afford it) and then find a job in their chosen field.  I think the example that was given by Greg Clarke was that Asians choose to go into IT whereas black ethnic groups don't.  It's just nonsense that black people would choose not to go into this area.  It's all done to access and hidden barriers that we "whites" don't really see or experience.

[The Dog's Dangly Bits 1,709]

That's life though.  For example, wealthy Asians send their kids to study in the UK.  Poor Asians don't.  

It'll always be the case that generally some people will have access to opportunities and some won't.   It isn't an equal world and his point is true (no matter how unhappy that might make people).

The whole agenda round this is painful.