Referees chief David Elleray, one of the most powerful officials in world football, is set to step down at the end of the season.
As chairman of the Football Association’s referee committee many see Elleray, 67, as a gatekeeper of English referees. He also has significant influence over the rules of the game due to his role as technical director at the game’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board (Ifab).
A series of exclusives by i led to the opening of an independent investigation into Elleray’s conduct by the FA, first revealed by i on Friday last week. The governing body has commissioned a law firm to investigate fresh allegations made about the former Premier League referee.
i first revealed a fortnight ago that a whistleblower, who wants to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, had come forward to the FA claiming that a 2014 investigation into racist comments made by Elleray to a black former FA employee amounted to a cover-up. The FA strongly denies this claim.
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The governing body has since received correspondence making further allegations, as yet unproven, about Elleray from Martin Cassidy, chief executive of charity Ref Support UK and a former employee in the FA’s referee department. The allegations come from more former staff members.
It is understood FA chief executive Mark Bullingham responded to Cassidy revealing that the governing body had appointed a law firm to conduct an independent investigation into Elleray in light of the new claims. The investigation is set to commence in the new year.
i previously revealed that prior to the independent investigation being launched, the FA had reached out to the former employee involved in the Elleray racism incident to ascertain their version of events.
At a referees conference in 2014, Elleray said to the FA staff member “you look rather tanned” and “have you been down a coal mine?”.
The FA insisted at the time that it did not receive an official complaint about the incident but investigated it anyway — following reports in the media — and found that Elleray had breach the the FA Council Code of Conduct. Elleray apologised, was made to take an equality and diversity training course and reminded of the code.
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Elleray spent 13 years as President of the Referees’ Association before retiring from the role in 2017. He was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to football in 2014.
Elleray was accused of bullying by Mark Clattenburg, a former Premier League referee who has had one of English refereeing’s most distinguished careers, in 2018. The FA did not investigate at the time, as no formal complaint was made.
He was also accused of fat-shaming last year [2020] when he told a group of aspiring referees: “There are too many beards, tattoos and beer bellies in this room.” Elleray did not deny making the comment, but said it was likely he was making a point about the importance of appearance.
The FA declined to comment about the opening of the independent investigation last week. Attempts were made to contact Elleray via the FA and Ifab last week but he did not respond.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/32nMhNo
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