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FA reveal offensive racial remarks by John Yems but still claims he’s “not a conscious racist”

The FA reveal a number of offensive racial remarks by John Yems but still claims he’s “not a conscious racist” in their report.

Yems was issued with a 15 month ban from football for multiple violations of the Football Association’s discriminatory comments rule.

After making 16 comments that “included an inference to ethnic origin/or colour/or race/or nationality/or religion/belief and/or gender” towards Crawley players between 2019-2022, the FA have since charged him.

Yems admitted one charge but was found guilty on 11 other charges relating to comments made between 2019-2022 that made reference to ethnic origin, colour or race, religion, belief, gender, or nationality.

A separate regulatory commission determined that four other players were unproven. Yems had been banned from any football-related activity until June the 1st, 2024.

In publishing the written reasons for his ban, the FA disciplinary commission “accepted that Mr Yems is not a conscious racist”.

“Nevertheless, Mr Yems’ ‘banter’ undoubtedly came across to the victims and others as offensive, racist and Islamophobic.

“Mr Yems simply paid no regard to the distress which his misplaced jocularity was causing.

The FA describes the case as “extremely serious” and “involved racist bullying over a significant period of time”, while stressing that the “lack of remorse or insight” and the “repetitive nature of the misconduct” were aggravating factors.

However, the tribunal was told that the manager accepted his ban and was remorseful, adding that “his attempts at jocularity had been thoughtless and misguided but not malevolent”.

WARNING FOR WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ BELOW

THE FA’s EVIDENCE

9. We heard oral evidence from 5 players whom we found to be impressive witnesses. All of them came across as pleasant and measured individuals. In our view, none of them seemed to be exaggerating, let alone telling deliberate falsehoods. We also heard from the Club chaplain, a free Church minister called Steve Alliston, and, briefly, Mr Williamson, an FA investigator. We are entirely satisfied that none of the witnesses called on behalf of the FA was fabricating his evidence.

10. Player 1 is a black footballer of African descent from East London. He joined the Club from Eastbourne Borough FC at around the time that Mr Yems was appointed. He told us that initially Mr Yems was really helpful and that Mr Yems had even asked the Chairman to increase his wages.

11. However, Mr Yems then began to use demeaning language towards Player 1. He was constantly asking Player 1 if he had eaten jerk chicken last night despite Player 1 saying that he was of Nigerian, not Caribbean, extraction and did not eat jerk chicken. To Player 1 this was simply racial stereotyping. Player 1
specifically recalled one occasion when he was playing darts in the canteen with Player 2, another black player, when Mr Yems asked what they were doing playing darts when people like them normally blow sharp objects through their mouths. Mr Yems then referred to Zulu warriors and made gestures as if using a blowpipe. Player 1 also recalled an occasion when Mr Yems referred to the actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and, in doing so, exaggeratedly mispronounced the end of his name to sound like “nigger”. Another occasion was when Mr Yems, in referring to injuries, mispronounced niggles so as to sound like
“niggers”, at a team meeting.

12. Player 1 also gave evidence about how he had observed Mr Yems using offensive language towards other players, particularly Player 3 whom he likened to a terrorist. Another who suffered from Mr Yems’s “banter” was Player 4 who would be mocked about eating curry. In cross examination Player 1 agreed with the description of Mr Yems using “old school politically incorrect” language. But it got too much, and eventually with others he had complained to the PFA.

13. The second witness was Player 4. He joined the Club in August 2021 on loan from Queen’s Park Rangers. He is 22 years old and of half Indian and half Irish heritage. Mr Yems would make fun of him for eating curry. On one occasion when the players were eating pizzas from a sponsor, Domino’s Pizzas, Mr Yems asked him if he was upset there was no curry pizza and, on another occasion, referred to him as a curry muncher. Player 4 also recalled Mr Yems putting a cloth over his head and saying “Allah, Allah”. Once, Mr Yems was singing in an Indian accent and asked Player 4 “do you sing in Pakistan” to which Player 4 replied that he came from India.

14. Player 4 became so upset about Mr Yems’s constant racist “banter” that he suffered mentally. He even feigned illness in order not to return to the Club.

15. The next witness was Player 5, another black player. He left the Club in June 2022 when he was mentally in a bad state and had begun to drink heavily after being upset over things that Mr Yems said. He recalled Mr Yems saying he did not believe in the “black lives matter malarkey”. On one occasion Mr Yems asked Player 5 and another black player, Player 2, if they went fishing. When they replied no, the response was that that made sense because they would stab all the fishes in the pond.

16. When Player 5 came back from representing Grenada, Mr Yems said he should not train with the squad and “look how black he is”; he then put his hand over his mouth saying he should not say that. In fact, Mr Yems would often make racist remarks such as calling one of the players a “Zulu Warrior” and talk about another player, Player 3, blowing up the stadium and having a bomb in his bag. As Player 5 put it in cross-examination, “for him it’s a joke but not for us”.

17. Player 5 has not in fact been back to the Club since he, along with Player 3, was told to “fuck off out of the club”. Mr Yems was apparently incensed by hearing that Player 3, who was sitting with Player 5 in the stand, had been laughing at another player.

18. Player 3 is a talented young footballer from Iraq and is Muslim. He was the butt of several “jokes” from Mr Yems about being a terrorist. He was asked if he slept with an AK47, and told that he could not have a GPS vest “because you people blow up stuff in vests” and asked 10 or 15 times if he carried a bomb in his bag. On another occasion, when Player 3 was saying that he was going to play for Iraq and that England would be beaten, Mr Yems said that he would probably blow up the stadium and proclaimed “Allah u Akhbar”. There was another reference to blowing up the stadium with C4 when Player 3 was in the changing room showers early in the 2021/22 season.

19. There was one occasion which Player 3 described as taking place at an end of season presentation when he, as a Muslim, was not drinking beer like other players. According to Player 3, Mr Yems then said “fuck Allah. He doesn’t even exist”.

20. Matters finally came to a head when Player 3, along with Player 5, was summoned by Mr Yems who was incensed at having heard that Player 3 had been laughing at another player. Mr Yems shouted at him to “fuck off”. Player 3 then told the Club’s former CEO, a friend of Mr Yems, that Mr Yems was a racist; the response was simply that he should keep his voice down because fans might hear. Since then, although Player 3 was later told that he was suspended from the Club, subject to review after one month, he has not been back. He is in fact still paid by the Club.

21. The final player called by the Club was Player 2, a player of African heritage. He joined the Club shortly before Mr Yems and left to join Southend United in January 2022. He told us how under Mr Yems the players divided up into cliques. He did not believe that Mr Yems was actually a racist. Further, he had not suffered as much as other players from Mr Yems’s “jokes” but he had come forward to give evidence because Mr Yems’s language was not fair.

22. He told us how Mr Yems was constantly asking him if he was “going back to Peckham for jerk chicken”. Player 2 would repeatedly correct him and tell him that he was neither Jamaican nor from South London, but Mr Yems would “recycle the joke”. This was a very stereotypical thing to say. Player 2 also remembered an occasion when he was playing darts with Player 1. They were told by Mr Yems that they could not play darts, only use blowpipes.

23. In general, Player 2 was unhappy about the way in which Mr Yems used to make fun of people and make offensive comments so as to get others to laugh. This was even though he personally had not suffered as much as others. Player 2 thought that this was because he had made it clear that he did not appreciate Mr Yems’s humour. 24. In addition to the players, Mr Alliston gave evidence. As the Club chaplain, he had no axe to grind. He was plainly uncomfortable in giving evidence against Mr Yems and indeed was keen to emphasize how much he liked him as a person. Nevertheless, his evidence was indeed consistent with the evidence which we had heard from the players. He used to drop into the Club on Thursdays during training and attend Club games.

25. Mr Alliston heard about players being unhappy about their treatment from Mr Yems. Mr Yems would often make comments which he believed to be funny. But, in Mr Alliston’s view, his humour could at best be described as outdated, and his jokes made people, including Mr Alliston, uncomfortable.

26. Mr Alliston told us how he had witnessed Mr Yems making offensive remarks about Player 3. He was, of course, a Muslim, and Mr Yems made “jokes” implying that he was a suicide bomber. Although he said in his witness statement that this was on more than one occasion, the only specific instance he could give in evidence was a remark by Mr Yems that Player 3 should not carry a bag because that made him look like a suicide bomber.

27. Mr Alliston also heard Mr Yems refer to one player of Asian heritage as a “curry muncher”. That was Player 4.

28. The non-white players did not find Mr Yems’s brand of humour to be funny. For Mr Alliston, it was a form of bullying even though Mr Yems did not think of himself as a bully. With hindsight, Mr Alliston thought that he should have made it clearer to Mr Yems that the things he was saying were not acceptable. All he had said to Mr Yems was that his remarks were “a bit near the mark”; he regretted this, but he had not wanted to rock the boat.

29. Finally, for completeness we should mention the short evidence of Mr Williamson. His evidence concerned the date of the match after which Mr Yems had become so angry with Player 3 and Player 5. We did not place much importance on differences of recollection about the date, for recollection may certainly vary. Nevertheless, for what it is worth, the date was likely on balance to have been that identified by the two players in question, i.e. 21 September 2021 when Joel Lynch was substituted at half time.

KICK IT OUT CEO TONY BURNETT TO SKY SPORTS

“I don’t know John Yems, but unless the FA are channelling some sort of superpower that I’m not aware of, they have no jurisdiction and they’re actually not qualified to assess whether any individual is a racist or not. So how you can reach a conclusion like that in a case like this is completely beyond me.

“What this says to me in the way this report is structured, is that football has a problem with behaviours. Football has a problem in establishing what is appropriate and inappropriate behaviour, really defining it and really embedding it in the game.

“What the PFA have done in supporting these players and for the players to come forward is a landmark and it’s a turning point for football.

“But we have to take this turning point really seriously and use it as a baseline to drive appropriate behaviours across the game of football.

“If you look at the seriousness of some of these comments, I’ve never heard this level of serious, so-called banter. They’re just offensive and disgusting remarks made in a workplace environment.

“I’ve been involved in this industry for 25 years. In any other walk of life, this would be instant dismissal, but in football for some reason, we have a different standard for this set of behaviours and we’re trying to interpret whether an individual is racist. I find that completely and utterly bizarre.

“I think the facts are the facts, and the facts we’ve established are that a number of really offensive comments were made to Crawley employees by a senior person in an organisation, and we cannot determine whether that individual is not racist. I’m not making that assertion at all, but I certainly know the FA panel haven’t got the power or the insight to determine that either.

“What we can say is the behaviour is appalling and it needs to be dealt with. I’m not sure a 15-month suspension is an appropriate sanction for what I’m reading here.”

FA reveal offensive racial remarks by John Yems but still claims he’s “not a conscious racist”
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