The England Women's Team Racism Row - Manager Sacked

[Deathstroke]

For those who are unaware, Eniola Aluko is a Chelsea forward of Nigerian descent who has represented England 102 times.

Having been invited by the FA to take part in a confidential 'cultural review' of the England women's team as an 'iconic player' in May 2016, Aluko accused manager Mark Sampson of having made a racist joke to her, as well as making a racist remark to a mixed-race teammate. Sampson was alleged to have joked to Aluko that she make sure her family doesn't bring Ebola from Nigeria, and asked the mixed-race teammate in a team meeting how many times she'd been arrested.

The FA's internal inquiry was described by the PFA as “not a genuine search for the truth” and “a sham that was designed not to establish the truth but to protect Mark Sampson”. A subsequent independent inquiry cleared Sampson of wrongdoing despite having failed to take the testimonies of the teammate or key witnesses and ignored key evidence.

A week after the accusations were made (confidentially, remember), Sampson visited her at Chelsea's training ground to inform her that she was being dropped from the squad because of ‘unlioness behaviour'. Pressed to explain, he said she had "looked withdrawn in team meetings".

Thereafter, following a meeting with officials overseeing the internal review, Aluko was informed by the FA that her work as a sports lawyer for a football agency was being investigated, even though the FA had been aware of it for years and had "celebrated it"; she was forced to give up the job.

Feeling threatened by the FA's actions, yet confident in the strength of her case, Aluko submitted a claim to the employment tribunal in preparation for going to court, at which point the FA stepped in to persuade her to accept a settlement; she was paid 80,000 GBP to keep the issue under wraps - except in the instance the story were to go public.

Interview with Aluko:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/aug/21/eni-aluko-interview-race-difficult-situation

Having witnessed my SO endure a similar situation, and seen firsthand how the authorities' immediate reaction is to sweep it under the carpet, protect the aggressor and seek to intimidate the complainant into silence, reading about this case brought back painful memories.

 

[Deathstroke]

England women's team manager Mark Sampson, at the centre of a racism row involving his players, has been sacked over certain other allegations as the FA comes under pressure.

"The governing body’s chief executive, Martin Glenn, said the decision to terminate Sampson’s contract was obvious after he became aware of the “full detail” of inappropriate relationships the Welshman had with female players while he was manager of Bristol Academy.

It is understood claims made by the former England striker Eni Aluko to the Guardian of bullying, harassment and racial remarks prompted a whistleblower outside the FA to urge Glenn to read the full report into safeguarding allegations made against Sampson.

The allegations relate to Sampson’s time at Bristol Academy, where he worked first with 10- to 16-year-olds at the centre of excellence and later as the senior first-team coach. The allegations were made by more than one player and are said by the FA chairman, Greg Clarke, to range from the “trivial to the very serious”.

Sampson was deemed fit to continue as England manager after the FA’s safeguarding and investigations team conducted inquiries when the allegations were first made in March 2014."

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/sep/20/mark-sampson-leave-england-womens-manager

 

[A_G]

Damn political correctness. In the good old days, you could tell a player of Nigerian decent to make sure her relatives don't bring ebola to the match or ask how many times she's been arrested (for no reason) without people getting up in arms.

 

[rich 1990]

What a bell end.

 

[Batman]

So he's a racist and a pervert. He should gain citizenship and run for Senate as a Republican over here. Those are the only qualifications.

 

[celestis]

Damn political correctness. In the good old days, you could tell a player of Nigerian decent to make sure her relatives don't bring ebola to the match or ask how many times she's been arrested (for no reason) without people getting up in arms.

Remember Gazza telling Barnes he was in the wrong line in the tunnel when Eng played Cameroon in the World Cup and Martin Tyler thinking it was cute .

When you look at it we have come a long way but still a ways to go with women .

 

[Deathstroke]

Now this ***** Glenn has admitted a black female lawyer was deliberately chosen to conduct the second, 'independent' inquiry in case the earlier middle-aged white internal inquisitors had been "missing things and in case the way we had done the inquiry may not have made people of a different ethnicity comfortable to speak up.”

The funny part is that it contradicts the earlier statement of the FA's lawyers that such a claim was "plainly false".

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...lenn-contradict-lawyers-sampson-investigation

Choosing a person of similar gender/colour/ethnicity as the complainant to head the inquiry seems a standard tactic to give it an impression of impartiality/positive bias, and ensure the credibility of the complaint is damaged when the inquiry inevitably concludes no such incident happened.

 

[Deathstroke]

Nothing quite like a spot of victim-blaming & a defence of the accused:

(FYI: Katharine Newton - Employment expert in charge of the independent inquiry)

"Glenn, however, appeared to indicate that Spence was at fault for not coming forward earlier. “If someone has had something said to them, the thing you would expect them to do is raise a complaint. The specifics of that complaint could then be dealt with. If you worked your whole life on hearsay, you’d never be able to run a classroom let alone the Football Association.”

Spence, then 22 and on her first England camp, chose not to make a complaint about an alleged incident at the China Cup in 2015 because she feared it would end her international career almost before it had begun.

Yet, over two inquiries, Spence was never asked to corroborate whether it was true that Sampson had upset her, a mixed-race player, by asking how many times she had been arrested. Newton did not interview any of the other players who were present but has agreed to meet Spence on Friday after the player submitted a statement backing Aluko’s version of events.

"It could very well be the case that Mark said some crass things,” Glenn said. “I don’t know, you won’t know and I suspect no one will know...""

 

[Deathstroke]

The inquiry may be ongoing, but the FA already seem to have decided on the verdict:

"“But is there evidence of systematic racial bias, or bullying, in that national team? Absolutely not. Two inquiries have shown that. We’ll finish the work after she [Newton] has spoken to Drew. But it’s not one [a culture] of systematic bias. I have to apply the principles of natural justice to this.

“Of course people like Eni have rights that need to be respected. So, too, does the FA. So, too, does the management. So, too, do the support staff.”

When it was put to him again that there were obvious holes in the investigation process, Glenn said: “I disagree with you on just about every count. I’ve worked in big organisations where inquiries into this kind of thing have gone on. I’m very comfortable. We did the internal inquiry with the head of HR and Dan Ashworth, both of whom have got a value set I totally respect. In terms of the question ‘is there any evidence of systematic wrongdoing?’, clearly not.”"

Obviously you would want to save your own arses by denying the existence of a problem; but at least pretend to wait for the inquiry to conclude, FFS.

I bet the report will scapegoat Sampson for having made 'unfortunate'/'insensitive' remarks that hurt the sentiments of the complainants, while stressing that the remarks in question were, however, 'not racial in nature', and that they cannot find evidence of any culture of bullying or harassment in the England setup.

 

[{reed}]

Give it Giggsy till the end of the season

 

[Tosker]

Give it Giggsy till the end of the season

not sure his past dealings with women would make him a favourite to be put in charge of a women's football team, though no doubt he would be up for it (sorry, couldn't resist)

 

[Lookin' for a new Baby]

Remember Gazza telling Barnes he was in the wrong line in the tunnel when Eng played Cameroon in the World Cup and Martin Tyler thinking it was cute .

When you look at it we have come a long way but still a ways to go with women .

That is so true. I quit another message board because I was getting all the usual sexual stereotyping, involving ironing and kitchen sinks, nothing was said, even a mod joined in and thought it was funny. Somebody posted something not even remotely racist really, but he was banned.

 

[Rumour]

Calls for FA officials to resign as Aluko says treatment ‘bordered on blackmail’

The Football Association’s senior management were facing calls for multiple resignations after a calamitous day for the people running the sport when their failings in the Mark Sampson affair were brutally exposed and the chief executive, Martin Glenn, was accused of behaviour “bordering on blackmail” by one of the England Women’s footballers whose complaints of racial remarks have finally been proven.

In a remarkable day of evidence before the digital, culture, sport and media committee, the FA issued a full apology to Eni Aluko and Drew Spence after a third inquiry, instigated on the back of the Guardian’s investigation into the previous two investigations, concluded that Sampson, the now-deposed manager, had made discriminatory remarks to both players.

The report, drawn up by the barrister Katharine Newton, concluded there was now overwhelming evidence to find that Sampson had asked Spence, a mixed-race player, how many times she had been arrested and told Aluko to make sure her Nigerian relatives did not bring the Ebola virus to Wembley.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...aluko-drew-spence-mark-sampson-racial-remarks

 

[A_G]

Sack the racist, then hire the sexist:

Spoiler

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Didn't think Phil Neville even did banter.

 

[SuperGoon]

 

[Rimaal]

Sack the racist, then hire the sexist:

Spoiler

Wow!

 

[celestis]

Wow!

I can't believe that **** , he would have hung drawn and quartered in Australia ffs and wére considered backward yet this muppet has a job in the media .

 

[dashsnow17]

Does the FA actually have a PR team?

 

[Jasard]

All they had to do was hire someone that isn't a clear **** in one way or another...