‘APPALLING!’
FA chiefs warned they’d cut my compensation unless I made statement saying they weren’t racist, woman striker tells MPs
THE Football Association was accused of ‘blackmail’ yesterday over claims its chief executive asked a leading black woman player to state the organisation was not ‘institutionally racist’.
Eni Aluko told MPs FA chief executive Martin Glenn suggested an £80,000 settlement would only be paid in full if she made the statement, which she refused to write. The disclosure came as a Commons committee heard how disgraced former England women’s manager Mark Sampson made racially discriminatory remarks towards Miss Aluko and team-mate Drew Spence.
Mr Sampson was sacked last month after having an inappropriate relationship with a player at club level.
On one occasion Mr Sampson told Miss Aluko, 30, to be careful her Nigerian relatives did not bring the ebola virus to Wembley stadium. He also asked mixed-race player Miss Spence how many times she had been arrested.
Giving evidence to the committee, Mr Glenn, while offering a ‘sincere apology’ to the women players, referred to Mr Sampson’s language as ‘inappropriate banter’. A report by barrister Katharine Newton commissioned by the FA found that Mr Sampson was not racist but had twice made ‘ ill- judged attempts at humour’ towards the players.
Miss Aluko, a striker with capped Chelsea 102 Ladiestimes by who England,was told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee she felt ‘vindicated’ by the report.
Her accusation of blackmail surrounded an £80,000 payment she was to receive from the FA for loss of future earnings, which was paid in instal- ments. ‘I had one meeting with Martin Glenn and he said if I wrote a statement that the FA is not institutionally racist, they would release the payment,’ she said.
‘Martin Glenn said if I wrote a statement he would release the second tranche of the money. I felt that was bordering on blackmail. I categorically refused to write it. It’s not for me to come up with that determination.
‘For Martin Glenn to say I should say that in order to get a payment contractually agreed is appalling.’
Mr Glenn denied asking the player to release such a statement and said the second payment was stopped because of a tweet Miss Aluko sent on August 30.
That Twitter message said: ‘At least we now know the FA’s stance on derogatory racial remarks by an England manager. Ignore, deny, endorse. In that order.’
Mr Glenn said the FA took legal advice and decided it breached their agreement ‘not to defame each other’.
He said there was no demand for a statement on racism, simply a request for Miss Aluko to retract the tweet and make a clarifying statement, which he believed she had agreed to do.
He told MPs that the FA would ‘reflect’ on whether Miss Aluko would be paid the rest of the money.
Mr Glenn also revealed that Mr Sampson is consid- ering a claim of wrongful dismissal. The chief executive added in a statement: ‘Based on new evidence submitted to independent barrister Katharine Newton, she has now found that they were both subject to discriminatory remarks made by an FA employee. This is not acceptable.
‘In her final report Katharine Newton concluded that on two separate occasions Mark Sampson made ill- judged attempts at humour, which as a matter of law were discriminatory on grounds of race.
‘Katharine Newton did however conclude that Mark Sampson was not racist.
‘She also concluded that there was no evidence to support the allegations that Eniola Aluko was subjected to “a course of bullying and discriminatory conduct” by Mark Sampson.’
Miss Aluko told MPs: ‘ My overwhelming emotion is relief. It has been a long process getting to this point. I feel vindicated and relieved – it suggests it was all worth it.’
She claimed there had been ‘an agenda’ to protect Mr Sampson and accused the FA of being dismissive when she first made her allegation that Mr Sampson had told her to make sure Nigerian relatives did not bring the ebola virus to a friendly game at Wembley in 2014.
Miss Aluko also told the panel she had been spoken to in a ‘Caribbean accent’ by a goalkeeping coach.