His victims have decried the decision to exonerate the football manager of being a racist and to call his racist comments against his players “pranks”.

John Yemmes, a former chairman of Crawley Town was spared a life ban by the Football Association’s Disciplinary Committee. The controversial decision ruled that he didn’t intend to make any racist remarks and it also called him “inappropriate banter”.

After hearing overwhelming evidence regarding Yems’ treatment towards Asian and black players, a three-member panel made up Robert Englehart KC, Matt Wilde – Wolverhampton Wanderers’ general manager of football operations – and Tony Agana, a former First Division player – suspended Yems for 15 months. .

He called black players “Zulu Warriors”, referred to an Asian player with the term “suicide bomber”, while deliberately mispronouncing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s name so that the ending sounded like an “n-word”.

Kick It Out, English soccer’s antidiscrimination watchdog, stated in a statement, “The discriminatory language in the FA Independent Commission report is simply shocking.”

“Given the seriousness of the incidents detailed, it is very difficult to understand how the FA Independent Panel could have concluded that ‘Mr Yems is not a knowing racist’. This view is not shared by us. This report should be taken as a complete description of the behavior: racism and Islamophobia.

“Frankly speaking, the 15-month ban due to the seriousness of the 11 proven charges is a slap in the face to the victims of the discriminatory abuses detailed in this report and anyone who has experienced racism or Islamophobia.

It is also a sign of a complete lack in understanding of the power dynamics and the damage that such language can cause. This decision sets a dangerous precedent, allowing offenders the ability to use a joke defense when discriminatory or harmful language is used. We will be in touch to the Football Association to learn more about the process.

“We are proud of the courage shown by the victims of this case and encourage anyone else involved in the game to contact Kick It Out if they find themselves in similar situations.”

The intentional apartheid Report was withdrawn

Damian Green MP, Acting Chairman of the Select Committee on Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and former deputy prime minister Theresa May, stated: “The language used in this case is disgusting and indicates an unacceptable fundamental position. In this context, the punishment is mild.

Azim Rafeeq, the lead informant on the racism scandal in English cricketThe Football Association, whose complaints dismissed the actions by those who accused them of “joking”, declared that they “should hang their heads with shame”.

The committee handed down the sentence. We have accepted that Mr Yems does not know racism. It would be appropriate to suspend Yems for a long time, or even permanently, if it were. We also acknowledge that his family would have suffered greatly due to the unwarranted allegation. Apartheid club.

But what is clear is that outright racism, even if it is not intentional, has no place in football or in any other area of ​​life. However, Mr. Yems’ “joking” undoubtedly came across to victims and others as offensive, racist and Islamophobic. Mr. Yems simply had no regard for the distress his misplaced jest was causing him.”

The panel also heard evidence that Yems “made gestures as if he was using a blowpipe”, a Muslim player made “jokes from Mr Yems” about “being a terrorist” including being asked if he slept with an AK47 and being told he could not have GPS jacket “because you blow things in jackets”, and Yems asked a black African-American player if he liked jerk chicken—a dish associated with the Caribbean—and referred to a player of Asian heritage as a “curry moncher”.

The FA retracted the allegation of intentional segregation at Crawley under Yems.

Reports from committees that investigated discrimination cases brought up by the Football Association, such as those involving Luis Suarez, John Terry, and John Terry, have previously indicated that those found guilty were not racists.

The Football Association, which filed a case against Yems and requested a two-year ban, said: “The Football Association brought 16 counts of discrimination against John Yems. The Independent Regulatory Commission imposed an eight-month ban on 12 charges that it either upheld or accepted. We requested a longer ban. Based on the evidence presented to the Committee, we don’t agree that the Committee should not have concluded that this was an issue of conscious racism.”