John Yems: Ex-Crawley Town manager banned for 18 months over racist abuse of players
- Published
John Yems was appointed Crawley Town manager in December 2019
Former Crawley Town boss John Yems has been banned from football for 18 months after being found guilty of 12 charges of racist abuse towards his players.
Yems was accused of making 16 comments that had a reference to either ethnic origin, race, nationality, religion, gender or colour between 2019 and 2022.
The 63-year-old admitted one charge by the Football Association and denied 15.
An independent regulatory commission found 11 of them to be proven and four unproven during a hearing.
The commission has suspended Yems from all football-related activity until 1 June 2024.
Yems had faced a further allegation that he had discriminated against Crawley Town players by reasons of ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race and/or nationality and/or religion or belief.
This charge was denied by Yems and was withdrawn by the FA prior to the hearing.
Yems was suspended by the club on 23 April amid "serious and credible accusations" that he used discriminatory language and behaviour towards his players.
He then parted company with the League Two side 13 days later, two days after the FA announced it was investigating the allegations against him.
Crawley Town said: "We would like to thank the Football Association for its thorough investigation into these serious allegations and the independent regulatory commission for its thoughtful consideration and ruling on the findings.
"As we have said many times, Crawley Town Football Club will never tolerate racism or discrimination of any kind.
"We remain eager to partner with our players, staff and supporters as we build a team and community that Red Devils fans can be proud of - both on and off the pitch."
The FA said the commission's written reasons for Yems' ban will be published "at the earliest opportunity".
The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) worked with the players involved to report the issue and said it "welcomed" Yems' suspension.
PFA senior equalities education executive Jason Lee, who made more than 650 appearances in a 23-year career, said he hoped the outcome of the investigation would give others confidence to come forward if they experience discrimination.
"It takes bravery to come forward to report issues like this," said Lee.
"It's a massive thing for any individual to do, and that's why it's so vital that players have confidence that they will be listened to, believed and supported.
"I hope this outcome shows our members that there is a process in place, that it will be followed, and it can result in proper punishment.
"A person's behaviour won't change unless they are held to account. Letting it go unchecked and allowing them to just quietly reappear in other roles at other clubs doesn't protect the players."
Lee also reiterated the PFA's call for equality, diversity and inclusion training to be made mandatory within all clubs.
"It's vital that the structures are in place to tackle this kind of behaviour when it's reported, but for the process to work everyone needs to be able to recognise discriminatory behaviour when they see it," he said.
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