FA panel finds John Yems ‘not a conscious racist’ despite series of racially offensive remarks | Soccer News

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The FA revealed a series of offensive racial remarks from John Yems, but still concluded Crawley’s former manager was “not a conscious racist”.

Yems was banned from football for 18 months for multiple breaches of the Football Association’s discriminatory comment rule.

The 63-year-old has been charged by the Football Association after making 16 alleged comments which “involved a reference to ethnic origin and/or color and/or race and/or nationality and/or to religion or belief and/or gender” to Crawley Players between 2019 and 2022.

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

An independent regulatory commission concluded four others were unproven, as Yems was banned earlier this month from all football-related activity until June 1, 2024 inclusive.

But the FA panel however concluded that Yems:

Describes the Muslim team members as “terrorists” Deliberately mispronounced the second half of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s name to emphasize the word NA used a racial stereotype to a black player of African descent when asking if he liked the jerk chicken Told Muslim players ‘your people are blowing things up with vests’ Said that a young Iraqi club international ‘would probably blow up the stadium’ Repeatedly commented on another player ‘carrying a bomb in his bag” Called a player a “curry muncher” and asked if the player was upset that they didn’t serve “curry pizza” Made a remark to a player about “how dark his skin is ” on his return to Crawley after representing Grenada

A sanctions document says the FA requested a two-year suspension, but the independent panel agreed with Yems’ lawyers that their client was not racist and “never intended to make any racist remarks”.

The FA panel said in its findings: “We consider this to be an extremely serious case. We have accepted that Mr Yems is not a conscious racist.

“If he was, an extremely long, even permanent suspension would be appropriate.

“Nevertheless, Mr. Yems’ ‘jokes’ undoubtedly came across to victims and others as offensive, racist and Islamophobic. Mr. Yems simply ignored the distress caused by his inappropriate joke. “

Yems, who took charge of Crawley in December 2019, was suspended for 12 days before he was fired in May.

A number of the Ligue 2 club’s players have lodged complaints with the Professional Footballers’ Association, which has launched the investigations.

Burnett: FA conclusion ‘completely and utterly bizarre’

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Kick It Out CEO Tony Burnett says John Yems inquest reports shocking and 18-month suspension not appropriate punishment

Kick It Out CEO Tony Burnett speaking to Sky Sports News:

“I don’t know John Yems, but unless the FA is channeling some sort of superpower that I’m not aware of, they have no jurisdiction and are in fact not qualified to assess whether an individual is racist or not. So how you can come to such a conclusion in a case like this is completely beyond me.

“What that tells me in the way this report is structured is that football has a problem with behaviours. Football has a problem establishing what is appropriate and inappropriate behaviour, really defining it and really fit into the game.

“What the PFA has done to support these players and to get the players to come forward is a landmark and a turning point for football.

“But we have to take this turn very seriously and use it as a basis for adopting appropriate behaviors in football.

“If you look at the seriousness of some of these comments, I’ve never heard this level of so-called serious joking. These are just offensive and disgusting remarks made in a work environment.

“I’ve been involved in this industry for 25 years. In any other area of ​​life it would be instant dismissal, but in football for some reason we have a different standard for that set of behaviors and we trying to interpret if an individual is racist, I find that completely and utterly bizarre.

“I think the facts are the facts, and the facts that we have established are that a number of truly offensive comments were made to Crawley employees by a senior manager of an organization, and we cannot determine whether this individual is not a racist. I’m not making that claim at all, but I certainly know that the FA panel also lacks the power or insight to determine that.

“What we can say is that the behavior is appalling and needs to be addressed. I’m not sure a 15 month ban is an appropriate sanction for what I’m reading here.”

Kick It Out to seek answers from the FA

Kick It Out issued its own statement on Wednesday morning, in which it said it was “very difficult to understand” how the panel had concluded that Yems was not a conscious racist, adding that he would be in contact with the FA on this.

“The discriminatory language depicted in the FA’s independent 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 view.

“The behavior described in the report must be exposed for exactly what it is: racism and Islamophobia.

“Speaking plainly, 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.

“Furthermore, to reduce his long series of offensive, Islamophobic and racist slurs to mere ‘misplaced jocularity’ shows a complete lack of understanding of the damage this language can cause or the power dynamics that exist in the game.

“This ruling also sets a dangerous precedent by allowing authors to hide behind a ‘bantering’ defense when they intentionally use harmful and discriminatory language, and we will be in touch with the FA to understand how the panel arrived at this. conclusion.

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

Bamba: The FA must do more Image: Sol Bamba said the punishment given to Yems by the FA panel was ‘not good enough’

Sol Bamba, the former Cardiff, Leeds and Leicester centre-back, told Sky Sports News he was “disturbed” by the panel’s findings that Yems was not a “conscious racist” and that his comments could be called “jokes”.

“I understand where Kick It Out is coming from because, the FA being the keepers, you want them to have a strong response when things like this happen,” Bamba said.

“You have to think about the casualties because when you’re playing at this kind of level you worry about coming out and reporting these allegations and whether it’s going to affect your career. In my opinion, the FA needs to do more.

“It bothered me a bit because I saw the comments he made and they were very, very bad. They were racist, in my opinion – there’s no two way about it.

“So for the FA to say there is no conscious racism does not sit well with me. The punishment is not good enough.

“The word ‘joke’ bothered me right away because everyone should know that these kind of racist comments are not jokes. They affect people and shouldn’t be used anymore. It’s as simple as that .”

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