The Football Association has reached out to its former employee Rob McCarthy to ascertain his view on the historic racism complaint lodged against referees’ chief David Elleray.
The FA has received a complaint against Elleray, one of the most powerful officials in world football, which i understands also alleges that the way the 2014 incident was handled at the time amounts to a cover-up.
The FA strongly denied this allegation regarding its handling of the case seven years ago when Elleray, now chair of the FA’s referee committee and technical director of the International Football Association Board (Ifab), said to black FA employee McCarthy “you look rather tanned” and “have you been down a coal mine?”.
The comments were made at a referees conference at St George’s Park attended by more than 30 officials and said in front of multiple witnesses.
At the time, the FA said it conducted an investigation despite not receiving an official complaint and found Elleray had breached the FA Council Members’ code of conduct. Elleray apologised unreservedly for his actions, took a mandatory diversity and inclusion training course and was reminded of the code.
The recent complaint, made by a whistleblower who was present at the conference but wants to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, calls for an independent investigation to be conducted into the incident and Elleray’s conduct while working for the FA. The governing body insists its previous investigation was thorough.
When contacted by i about the complaint, the FA gave no indication it was investigating the allegations. But i understands the governing body has contacted McCarthy recently for his perspective of events. The FA insists McCarthy was interviewed at the time as part of its investigation.
More recently, high-profile FA employees have been forced to step down following incidents involving racism and inappropriate conduct.
Last year, Greg Clarke resigned as FA chairman after admitting to using “unacceptable” language when referring to black players. He apologised after referring to “coloured footballers” while speaking at a digital, culture, media and sport select committee.
He also said “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.” He referred to homosexuality as a “life choice” and claimed female players did not like the ball being hit at them hard.
In 2018, Barry Bright stepped down from his role as an FA vice-chairman after an investigation was opened into allegations of inappropriate comments made to female staff.
An FA spokesperson said on Friday: “The FA investigated inappropriate comments made by David Elleray in 2014 and found he breached the FA Council Members’ code of conduct. He apologised unreservedly for his actions. Nonetheless, Mr Elleray was ordered to undertake mandatory diversity and inclusion training and was reminded of his responsibilities as an FA Council Member.
“The FA has made great strides and continues on its journey to ensure that there is a zero-tolerance approach towards discrimination both on and off the pitch. This commitment is reiterated in our equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, A Game For All.
Elleray was approached for comment via the FA and IFAB on Wednesday but has not responded.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2ZYrI9y
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