Former Crawley Town manager John Yems has had his suspension from football for making racist comments to players extended until 2026 after a successful appeal by the Football Association.
The 63-year-old’s extended suspension is the longest ban issued to someone in English football for discrimination.
The FA appealed against the sanction on the basis it was “insufficient”.
A report from the disciplinary commission had said comments made by Yems were “not a case of conscious racism”, which the FA said it “fundamentally disagreed” with.
The appeal board upheld the FA’s claim with a subsequent three-year ban issued until January 2026.
“We welcome the verdict from the independent appeal board to suspend John Yems from all football-related activity until January 2026,” an FA spokesperson said.
“We strongly disagreed with their original sanction, as well as some of the elements of their judgement, which we fundamentally believed were not appropriate for the severity of the offences committed by John Yems.
“We are pleased that the independent appeal board ruled that specific findings from the Independent Regulatory Commission were unreasonable, as there were numerous examples of inherent and obvious racist language.
“This is a deeply distressing case for the victims involved, and we hope that the outcome of this appeal will help to bring some closure. We also hope that this will encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed discrimination in the game to report it.”
Yems was suspended by Crawley on 23 April last year amid accusations that he had used discriminatory language and behaviour towards his players between 2019 and 2022.
He parted with the League Two club 13 days later, days after the FA announced its investigation.
Yems admitted one charge of making comments that had a reference to either ethnic origin, race, nationality, religion, gender or colour but denied 15 others against him.
The independent regulatory commission, which held a hearing in November, found 11 of the charges to be proven and four unproven.
In his defence, Yems had “categorically denied that he was in any way racist” the tribunal’s report stated.
‘Original findings were dangerous’
Former Nottingham Forest striker Jason Lee, now a senior executive at the Professional Footballers’ Association, said the original findings “essentially excused Yems”.
“Despite the ban given to John Yems following the original hearing, the subsequent written findings essentially excused his language and behaviour as ‘unconscious racism’,” Lee said.
“Not only was this unnecessary, it was also dangerous.
“It sends a message that those in positions of authority can justify their behaviour if they claim not to understand its impact.
“That should never be accepted. It’s the job of everyone in the game, but particularly those in positions of power, to take responsibility for making sure they are educated.
“It shouldn’t continue to be the job of those who are victims of racism and discrimination to adapt to an environment where it is passed off as banter or joking behaviour.
“We now need to make sure those excuses are removed. That includes proper training and education for all of those in the game, including those who chair and sit on panels such as that involving John Yems and who are responsible for making judgments in such cases.
“The PFA has been working with the players involved throughout what has been an extremely challenging period, one made more difficult by the need for this appeal.
“While we hope that this outcome will encourage more players to come forward to report issues, it’s right that this process is properly reviewed so that lessons can be learned.”
‘We hope it is a landmark moment’
The chief executive of Kick It Out, Tony Burnett, said his organisation welcomed the news that Yems’ ban had been lengthened.
He added they “wholeheartedly concurred with the independent appeal board’s conclusion that the initial judgement that he was not a conscious racist was untenable”.
“We would like to thank The PFA and The FA for ensuring that justice prevails in the case and commend the immense courage of the victims throughout this extremely difficult process,” Burnett said.
“Strong sanctions are crucial in sending out a message that racist, Islamophobic and discriminatory language will not be tolerated in football.
“We hope that the record-length ban issued to Yems today will be a landmark moment that enables more victims of discrimination to come forward and provides a powerful statement that abusing the power dynamic between coach and player will have severe consequences.
“We are here to support all victims of discriminatory abuse and we would encourage anybody who sadly experiences or witnesses abuse of any kind in the game to report it to us at Kick It Out.”
