London (AFP)
English Football Federation (FA) President Greg Clarke had to apologize on Tuesday for using a racist expression to talk about black England footballers, prompting a lawmaker to question the real commitment of the FA in favor of diversity.
During a hearing by the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) on the future of English football, Clarke used the term "colored people", an expression which can be translated by "people of color" which is considered racist in English.
Greg Clarke, also FIFA vice-president, was also criticized for having mentioned during the same hearing the lack of professionalism of the players of Asian origin, due to him due to "different career interests".
The FA boss further described being gay as a "lifestyle choice" when asked about the lack of openly gay players in England.
"Greg Clarke deeply apologizes for the language he used to refer to members of the ethnic minority community during the select committee hearing," the FA said in a statement.
"He admitted that the use of the term" colored people "was not appropriate and apologized wholeheartedly at the hearing," claiming in his defense that he had made this language error because the Americans use the expression "people of color".
In English there are two different expressions: "colored people", racist, and "people of color" which is not.
In French, these two expressions are commonly translated in the same way: "people of color".
However, Conservative MP Julian Knight, who chairs the DCMS committee, questioned the sincerity of the FA.
"It is true that Greg Clarke apologized to the committee," he tweeted.
"However, this is not the first time that @FA has encountered these kinds of issues. It makes us question their commitment to diversity."
Player Anton Ferdinand, who during his career has been the victim of racist remarks by former England and Chelsea captain John Terry, in a tweet called Clarke's comments a '"intolerable".
© 2020 AFP