The Football Association of Wales
(FAW) will not take action against chief executive Jonathan Ford for
saying the next Wales manager could be "foreign", but "definitely not English".
There will be many who consider this a trivial matter and not worth an enquiry, bbut just imagine the reaction if the English FA had said the next English Manager could be "foreign", but "definitely not Welsh or Scottish".
"Somebody said this earlier, Welsh most definitely, foreign possibly but definitely not English."
A statement from the FAW said they will not "take the matter any further" after Ford apologised for the remarks.
The interview, at the Wales Sport Awards, was discussed at an FAW council meeting when Ford was asked to leave the room.
An FAW statement said Ford would not face any further action.
The statement said:
"Following a matter arising from the Football Association of Wales Council meeting of 12 December 2017 in Cardiff, meetings have taken place between the Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Ford, the President, David Griffiths and Vice President, Kieran O'Connor of the Association.
"The CEO has clarified comments made in a media interview, where he repeated details of a previous conversation, in which a third party stated that the search for a national team manager should preclude an English applicant.
"Following the discussions today, it was accepted the documented comments were taken out of context and not in the manner in which they were intended.
"The FAW and CEO will conduct a search for the new manager in an open and objective fashion, the appointee will be the best person for the role.
"The CEO has apologised for the statement and the FAW Officers, having reviewed the situation, do not propose to take the matter any further.
"The Officers of the Association fully support the CEO, acknowledge the significant achievements in taking Welsh Football forward over the last eight years and look forward to continue to work together in the future.
I must admit that I subscribe to the ABE (Anyone But England) mantra and I often wear a Tshirt with the Logo
"I support Wales and who ever is playing England"
But this is a reaction to the media promoting English the side in every event whilst ignoring other National teams from these Islands in the same compition.
My ABE is not Anti-English but a stand against the media insistence that I should support an English Team.
If you asked me what Football side I support I would say not Cardiff or Swansea but Barcelona because it is a team run by its fans and prepared to take sides n the debate on the future of Catalonia.
But I occasionally need a reminder that the seemed free rein to make remarks about the Welsh,Scottish and Irish by English "comedians" that would be considered racist if a said about other nationalities, can also apply to "jokes" about the English from ourselves.
We must be ever vigilant in our own writing and utterances , particularly with reference to our friends across the boarder.
It is not OK to do so and the recent FAW case is an example of why.
2 comments:
With only 3 million people in the country, I've always felt that if you come to live with us and show loyalty to this little patch of the planet you should be treated as one of us. Does not matter where you come from it is where you are going that counts.
I'm sure if someone from the english fa had said 'the next england manager definitely wouldnt be welsh' there would have been a fierce response from this side of the border - and justifiably so. I recall the reaction when the then FA chair Ted Crocker said the welsh national anthem wouldnt be played before the match with Wales at wembley in 1977 because it was 'only a song'(the welsh players sang it anyway lol).
But while friendly rivalry between our two countries is fine jonathan ford's quip was certainly at the very least ill judged and could be construed as racist. He has apparently now apologised for this remark and we should accept this and consider the matter closed.
PS people like jonathan might want to remember that the english fa are under no obligation to let our club teams play in their leagues. PPS the only time in Wales history when we have ever finished top of a qualifying group was for the 1976 european championships - under mike smith who was english.
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