Former Crawley manager John Yems has been banned for 18 months following revelations by Sportsmail that he used racist language against his own players while in charge of the League Two club
- Former Crawley boss John Yems was banned from football for 18 months on Friday
- The news follows Sportsmail revelations that he used racist language
- Yems, 63, was found guilty of 12 counts of using discriminatory language
- The FA have imposed the longest ban they have ever handed out for racist abuse
Former Crawley manager John Yems was on Friday night banned from football for 18 months by the following FA Sportsmail’s revelations that he used racist language against his own players.
The 63-year-old was found guilty of 12 charges of using discriminatory language while in charge of the League Two club last season, with the FA handing out the longest ban they have handed out for racist abuse.
Sportsmail it was announced in April that half a dozen Crawley players had complained to the PFA about Yems’ alleged racist language, leading to his immediate suspension from the club and departure the following month, and the FA had launched an investigation.
Former Crawley boss John Yems was banned from football for 18 months by the FA on Friday
Sportsmail’s exclusive story on former Crawley boss Yems in April
The FA charged Yems with 16 aggravated breaches of their rules for making comments that ‘include references to ethnic origin and/or color and/or race and/or nationality and/or religion or belief and/or sex ‘ last July, with his disciplinary hearing taking place last month.
Yems admitted to one of the charges and denied 15, of which a three-person independent panel found him guilty of 11.
Amid the many shocking allegations made against Yems by a group of seven Crawley players first appeared in Sportsmail were claims he regularly used the n-word in training and called players from ethnic minority backgrounds derogatory names such as ‘suicide bomber, curry puncher and Zulu warrior’.
A separate charge that he discriminated against players on the basis of their race by forcing black members of his squad to change in a separate dressing-room at the club’s training ground was denied by Yems, and later withdrawn by the FA.
The 63-year-old was found guilty of 12 counts of using discriminatory language while at the club last season, with the FA imposing the longest ban they have ever handed out for racist abuse
‘An independent Regulatory Commission has suspended John Yems from all football and football-related activities up to and including 1 June 2024, and ordered him to attend an education program for 12 breaches of FA Rule E3.2, ‘ read an FA statement.
Yems’ suspension was accepted by the PFA on Friday night, with the union’s senior equalities executive Jason Lee praising the courage of the players who reported to their manager.
‘It takes courage to report issues like this,’ Lee said. ‘When the players made that decision, they must have thought about it. What does this mean for my future at the club?
‘Will it affect my career if I say something? It’s a huge thing for an individual to do, and that’s why it’s so important that the players have the confidence that they will be believed, listened to and supported.’
