FA can’t act on Webber race furore
FORMER Norwich sporting director Stuart Webber will escape FA disciplinary action for suggesting Raheem Sterling, Max Aarons and three other black players would be in jail if they were not footballers. Sources with knowledge of the FA’s disciplinary system have told Mail Sport that Webber’s racial stereotyping would almost certainly have led to him being charged with breaching Rule E3 had he been an active participant in the game, but that they are powerless to act as the Welshman left Norwich in November.
In an interview with the Eastern Daily Press Webber said: ‘Jonny Rowe wouldn’t mind me saying it, but him, Abu Kamara, Max (Aarons), Jamal (Lewis), Raheem (Sterling) back in the day at Liverpool, where they come from it had to work out for them in football — because the alternative is potentially jail or something else.’
Kick It Out condemned Webber’s comments as ‘deeply offensive and concerning,’ which he has acknowledged by contacting several of the players and their families to apologise. The 39-year-old is understood to have contacted Bournemouth’s Aarons and Lewis, who is on loan at Watford from Newcastle, although it is unclear whether he has managed to speak to Sterling, Kamara — who is at Portsmouth on loan from Norwich — and Norwich’s Rowe.
Kamara denounced Webber’s comments last night. ‘My family and I are deeply saddened and shocked by the comments made by Stuart Webber,’ said the 20-year-old. ‘I want to say to all the black and ethnic minority children that you don’t have to be a professional athlete to avoid living a life of crime and it is important that younger audiences are not left with this false narrative. These remarks are a sign that there is still a long way to go to be treated equally. ‘You can be whatever you want to be as long as you work hard, believe in yourself and be consistent in what you do.’
The FA are understood to be frustrated by their limited powers to take action against Webber despite the fact that he has spent 21 years working in senior recruitment and scouting roles at six different clubs before leaving Carrow Road.