Clarke resigned just hours after making the remarks during a call with MPs.
Chairman Greg Clarke has resigned from the Football Association after using the racial slur “coloured” during a meeting with the Digital, Culture, Media, Sport committee on Tuesday.
Clarke, who has been in the job since September 2016, apologised after making the remarks during a call with MPs; a call during which he also perpetuated racial stereotypes surrounding Asian people, and implied being gay was a “life choice”.
“If you go to the IT department at the FA there’s a lot more South Asians than there are Afro Caribbeans. They have different career interests,” he said.
He apologised during the call for the words he used, saying: “If I said it I deeply apologise for it, I worked in the USA for many years and was required to use the phrase ‘people of colour’ and I sometimes trip up on my words.”
Following his remarks, football’s leading anti-discrimination organisation Kick It Out published a statement, calling Clare’s comments “unacceptable.”
“I was extremely disappointed to see Greg Clarke’s comments today in the DCMS select committee,” said Kick It Out chairman Sanjay Bhandari.
“His use of outdated language to describe black and Asian people as “coloured” is from decades ago and should remain consigned to the dustbin of history.
“Being gay is not a ‘life choice’ as he claimed too. The casual sexism of saying ‘girls’ do not like balls hit at them hard, is staggering from anyone, let alone the leader of our national game.
“It is completely unacceptable.”
Greg Clarke set to quit as FA chairman. Story with @martynziegler on @TimesSport shortly
— Matt Lawton (@Lawton_Times) November 10, 2020
Clarke used the term “coloured footballers” while giving evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. On the same call, he perpetuated a racial stereotype about Asian people.
He had been called to speak to MPs regarding Project Big Picture, the highly controversial and much publicised plan by the Premier League’s ‘big six’ to reform the top flight and the football league, before inadvertently drawing attention to himself with a slew of inappropriate comments, including the use of the term “coloured”, an outdated and highly offensive term.
A statement from the Football Association is expected shortly.
