English football has been plagued by racism scandals in the past year, and now its ruling body must deal with what is thought to be the first case of racial abuse by a Premier League referee.
League leaders Chelsea made a complaint over “inappropriate language” used by ref Mark Clattenburg during Sunday’s controversial 3-2 home defeat by Manchester United.
Chelsea’s complaint focused on comments made to two of its players in two separate incidents.
Clattenburg had already infuriated the European champions by sending off two of their players, dismissing Fernando Torres for diving even though he had been fouled and then allowing United’s winning goal to stand even though television replays showed it appeared to be offside.
With the issue of racism in English football under intense scrutiny, and following in the wake of Chelsea’s own problems with captain John Terry’s ban for racially abusing an opponent, the allegations against Clattenburg come at a time when the Football Association is under pressure to be seen to be taking a strong stance.
“I can’t think of any previous such incident in the professional game off the top of my head,” an FA spokesman told CNN.
“In grassroots football, yes, I can recall incidents but in the professional game I would have to check the record books.”
The FA said on Monday they had launched an investigation into the allegations, while Clattenburg has welcomed “the opportunity for the facts to be established.”
“We have lodged a complaint to the Premier League match delegate with regard to inappropriate language used by the referee and directed at two of our players in two separate incidents during (the) match,” Chelsea said in a statement said on Sunday.
“The match delegate will pass the complaint to the Football Association. We will make no further comment at this time.”
British media have reported that one of the players involved was Chelsea’s Nigeria international John Obi Mikel.
For the past year, the Blues have been at the heart of a racism row after an incident involving Terry and Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match in October 2011.
The FA found Terry guilty of racially abusing Ferdinand, even though a court had earlier cleared the former England captain.
The FA — which requires a lower burden of proof than an English criminal court — barred the 31-year-old for four games for the incident and also fined him £220,000.
–CNN
