When he was younger, using the word 'coloured' was more politically correct than using the word black. My mam says that when she was young you got wrong for using the word 'black', you had to say 'coloured'. I think that rubbed off on me because I can vaguely remember when I was younger I used to get confused as to which term was best to use. My wifes dad still says the word 'coloured'. Not his fault, he's not racist, just brought up to use that word. That gaff in itself is not enough for him to resign in my opinion. Like the other gaffs he pulled, each one on its own is maybe not enough to resign. However the fact, in one sitting, he managed to offend blacks, gays, women and Asians I think he deserves the boot. If he had managed to piss off the disabled he would have getting the full house!
That generation need moving out of the game. The ice age is here. It's time for the dinosaurs to go on their merry way. The people administering the game need to more closely match the people coming into it.
I'm not sure if its still the case, but when I was a lot younger I seem to remember members of Regional FA's such as Cornwall, Herefordshire and other sleepy little footballing backwaters had representatives on the main board of the National FA and overseen the elite game including the English National Team.....Crazy
I was working in Namibia once and during a conversation with one of the locals referred to him as being black he exploded and went on a full rant about not being black and said he was brown, that was me confused and him not best pleased
"If he had managed to piss off the disabled he would have getting the full house!" Reported .... ... aren't you supposed to say otherwise abled these days.
Haven’t got a clue mate but you are probably right I know spastic is a definite no no even though it was called the spastic society I thought it sounded horrible even 30 years ago.
I've no idea tbh mate. I worked for a Security firm of black lads, in Nottingham, who called themselves the darkies .... ... I called them that and was sometimes rebuked for it.
Clarke has always seemed a babbling brook of inane cliches and management speak. As for his using the word coloured, he is probably just resorting to the language he was told was correct when he was younger. Sometime ago, a reference to anyone as being "black" was a similar hanging offence, inviting the same opprobrium. He was not being insulting in the use of the word, just not aware of what terms he should currently use. That said, he is no loss, but is unlikely to reached by better.
Agree, he did the right thing in resigning because his comments were unacceptable for someone in his position and reinforced certain stereotypes but I don't believe for one minute the comments were delivered maliciously. Drunk uncle describes his performance perfectly for me.
33 years in the service of Her Majesty and looking back, it seems like each annual Race Relations and Diversity training course I attended, had new instructions on how to refer to people. It's all very confusing especially to someone who sees people as people and nothing else.
It doesn't help when 'person of colour' is acceptable and has been used a lot recently regarding the vice president elect.
He was also in a top leadership position so he should really have acquainted himself with the correct terminology. Do the FA not have diversity training? I mean it’s not as if the EPL and EFL have many black players is it? In short he was the one in charge and his organisation would look to him for guidance and direction. The term coloured hasn’t been used for the best part of thirty years. When I was young I went to the paki shop to get my mams cigarettes. I was able to work out by the time I was about 14 that that terminology was fairly derogatory so I stopped using it. And he was being insulting whether or not he meant to be.
So is paki now black what about Chinese do you have to use any colour??are all these nations not different colours?
See it's the terminology he used. I was told, growing up, that it was offensive to use the term "Black" to describe black people. My mother in law uses the term coloured all the time as this is what she was always told was acceptable. Then, somewhere along the line, this became racist. I'm not going to argue with people about it - I don't know why the term was suddenly deemed racist. I respect that it is and don't use the term any longer. Some older generations forget or don't realise. Not that I'm upset that he's gone! I'm pretty nonplussed by anything the FA does!!
Oof! Well I didin;t know that. My parents are of the "why do people choose to be gay" as are my in laws!!! Had many a heated discussion about it in both households (In-laws are Jehovah's witnesses so being gay would be hanging offence if they had their way!!)
Embarrassingly, up until 10 years ago I had no idea that the term 'chinky' was racist. Nobody had ever put me right whenever I'd used the word. I learned when I was stood in a Chinese restaurant and my phone rang, it was my mate asking where I was, so I casually told him in front of everybody...
