Kick It Out slams FA panel as ex-Crawley Town manager John Yems not seen as a conscious racist

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John Yems, in Crawley (Getty Images)

Kick It Out criticized an FA Disciplinary Panel which ruled former Crawley Town manager John Yems was not a conscious racist.

The anti-discrimination group also described its 15-month ban for using racist language towards players as a slap in the face to its victims.

Yems admitted one charge and was convicted of 11 others relating to comments referring to ethnicity, color, race, nationality, religion, belief or gender between 2019 and 2022.

He called black players Zulu warriors and called an Asian player a suicide bomber.

Four other charges were ruled unproven by an FA tribunal.

Written reasons for Yems’ sanctions were published on Tuesday, but the FA’s independent panel agreed the 63-year-old was not racist and also never intended to make any remarks racists.

Kick It Out released a strong statement in response to the independent regulatory commission’s findings.

The discriminatory language described in the FA Independent Panel’s report is simply shocking, Kick It Out’s statement read.

Given the seriousness of the incidents detailed, it is very difficult to understand how the FA’s independent panel concluded that Mr Yems is not a conscious racist”.

We do not share this point of view. The behavior described in the report must be denounced for what it is, racism and Islamophobia.

To put it bluntly, a 15-month ban given the seriousness of the 11 proven charges is a slap in the face to the victims of the discriminatory abuses detailed in this report and to anyone who has experienced racism or Islamophobia.

Moreover, to reduce his long series of offensive, Islamophobic and racist remarks to a simple inappropriate joke shows a complete lack of understanding of the damage this language can cause or the power dynamics that exist in the game.

This decision also sets a dangerous precedent by allowing authors to hide behind a joking defense when intentionally using harmful and discriminatory language, and we will be in touch with the FA to understand how the panel reached its conclusion.

We salute the courage of the victims of this case to come forward and encourage anyone involved in the game who unfortunately finds themselves in similar situations to contact us at Kick It Out.

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