Jonathan’s statement reads: “I am naturally relieved that the process is now complete and the FA have upheld what I have always known to be true – that I was racially abused by Kiko Casilla in a manner which shocked me and still angers and upsetsme to this day.
“I have been disappointed with the amount of time it has taken to reach this point. Knowing what occurred in the game that day, it has been difficult to watch Kiko Casilla continue to play for such a lengthy period as if nothing had happened.
“I would urge the game’s governing bodies to look into their own processes when such incidents are reported. It was 22 weeks between the incident and the hearing during which I had minimal contact from the PFA, of which I am a member, and no contact in the way of support from leading anti-racism bodies such as ‘Kick It Out’ and ‘Show Racism The Red Card’. Some support or guidance would have been very welcome.
“By bringing the incident to the referee’s attention immediately, I was only doing what I have been educated to do throughout my career. But I found the hearing, at which I was made to feel I had done something wrong, extremely stressful.
“It made me question whether I would be prepared to go through it all again were I on the receiving end of similar abuse in the future. I certainly would think twice about how to advise another player placed in the same situation.
“From the outset, all I have done is report something that had to be challenged and exposed for what it is – racial abuse. I now want to put the episode behind me and concentrate on recovering from my injury to be ready for next season.”
Quite a stark, honest and thought provoking statement from Jonathan Leko. In my view it should stand for what it is, a crystallisation of both the specific issue and the wider context for those involved in the sport, and should stand as a solid reference point for future action, and the future development in the fight against racism in football. The F.A. praised Leko for his conduct and frankly his courage, and his statement gives some indication why. I feel a lot of respect towards Leko.
Can’t really fault the FA, IMO. And the sensible reaction of a number of Leeds fans to our club statement shows they’re not all wankers.
I think we can fault them for taking FIVE months to get to this conclusion and also for not publishing at least an abbreviated summary of findings simultaneously. In the meantime both Leko and Bonne have received more abuse from some Leeds "fans". FA have aggravated that situation by not tackling the issue quickly.
I'm no lawyer, but we are not aware of things like (for example) if there were any deliberate delaying tactics (within the law) used by the defense QC.
But I agree it is terrible Leko and Bonne have got and continue to get abuse, and 5 months seems way too long for a resolution. The fact they both stuck at it for that long makes them even more heroic really.
Agree. Very eloquently put. Bit different to the guilty party ability to express themself. No parties, I include Leeds in that. He didn't mention if he got support from Charlton or for that matter West Brom. I sincerely hope he did and would be interested to know, though I understand he wants to put the whole sorry thing behind him. Many points to dwell on from what he says, but surely the lack of support from PFA, I wonder if Castillo got support from them? Also no support from Kick it out, so its Kick it out on your own. Apart from his own suffering, a real sad thing, if understandable, is what he would do or advise a young player to do in a similar situation. This is just has to be picked up. It's like where we were 20 years ago on rape or grooming. I am not comparing the offences but the lack of support and belief and feeling like you have done something wrong. Shit this ain't good.
There is still a massive problem with racism within football and society in general. I applaud Jonathan's statement, his bravery in reporting the incident and his determination to see it through. It's so sad to read that he will now consider reporting such incidents again, and his advice to other black players. It feels like a watershed moment for everybody, the FA for taking so long in coming to the correct decision, the supporting bodies including the PFA and Kick Racism Out Of Football and other anti racist organisations. I can only give my love and support to a player who in a brief stay at our club had to suffer such abuse from an opposing team member, and I will remember him for those exhilarating moments that lit up The Valley. I hope that Leeds look at their response, it was pathetic and embarrasing, I hope they reconsider their response and offer some sort of a proper apology. The other consideration is the severity of the punishment, which to me was poor, to see a player banned for three months for gambling, and KC gets 8 games for racism appears disproportionate.
Leeds still havent put anything on their twitter I see, nothing about The FA releasing the document, they clearly know it goes against their initial statement and makes them look like twats
The truly ridiculous thing here is that Leeds were obviously present throughout the hearing, knew what Casilla was accused of saying and knew what he was being banned for..............yet still put out that initial statement.
Agree. Very eloquently put. Bit different to the guilty party ability to express themself. No parties, I include Leeds in that. He didn't mention if he got support from Charlton or for that matter West Brom. I sincerely hope he did and would be interested to know, though I understand he wants to put the whole sorry thing behind him. Many points to dwell on from what he says, but surely the lack of support from PFA, I wonder if Castillo got support from them? Also no support from Kick it out, so its Kick it out on your own. Apart from his own suffering, a real sad thing, if understandable, is what he would do or advise a young player to do in a similar situation. This is just has to be picked up. It's like where we were 20 years ago on rape or grooming. I am not comparing the offences but the lack of support and belief and feeling like you have done something wrong. Shit this ain't good.
Next time JL might well decide justice is served better on the pitch and put his boot through the bloke's knee. Who could blame him?
Lots of people. Racists would spin it as look how "they" can't control themselves and when he explained after he was sent off that it was because of what was said he'd be accused of "playing the race card" to deflect from his red card. That's how racism works.
Agree. Very eloquently put. Bit different to the guilty party ability to express themself. No parties, I include Leeds in that. He didn't mention if he got support from Charlton or for that matter West Brom. I sincerely hope he did and would be interested to know, though I understand he wants to put the whole sorry thing behind him. Many points to dwell on from what he says, but surely the lack of support from PFA, I wonder if Castillo got support from them? Also no support from Kick it out, so its Kick it out on your own. Apart from his own suffering, a real sad thing, if understandable, is what he would do or advise a young player to do in a similar situation. This is just has to be picked up. It's like where we were 20 years ago on rape or grooming. I am not comparing the offences but the lack of support and belief and feeling like you have done something wrong. Shit this ain't good.
Appalling that so many organisations who were supposed to help him through this difficult process have miserably failed to support him.
Hang your heads in shame FA, PFA, Kick It Out and Show Racism The Red Card.
Leeds United handling of this affair is quite frankly beyond contempt. Casilla should have been sacked and booted out of English football.
This is why this racist Bullshit continues to happen. Because racists know they will continue to get away with it.
Don't worry at a league game soon all the players will be asked to wear a 'give racism the red card' t-shirt whilst warming up.............and they will see that as doing something.
Until players get proper bans and players or clubs get proper fines then nothing much will change.
Leeds got fined 200k for spying on a training session. Huddersfield fined 50k for having an oversized sponsor logo for a joke in a friendly. Millwall fined 10k for racist chanting in an FA Cup game last season. Casilla is allowed to play on for 5 months and gets 60k for blatant racism.
I must say since the report I have seen alot of Leeds fan say they want Kiko sacked now and they regret singing songs and standing by him.
Unfortunately there are still a few standing by him on Twitter and refusing to believe it, just a shame The FA didnt release the report the same time as the ban
Jonathan Leko’s statement has really angered me. I’m not angry with him, I feel angry that he’s been let down in such a way by the very organisations that should’ve stepped up from the very beginning.
I hope, as a couple of posts above have suggested, that WBA and CAFC gave him appropriate support, that’s good to see, so we’ll done both of them. However, it’s only what he should be able to expect.
The fact that he felt he needed to explicitly name the FA, PFA, Kick It Out and SRTRC is appalling. What on earth have these people been doing? It’s not as if they didn’t know this incident happened. In all honesty, I’m most disappointed by the Kick It Out and SRTRC because this is supposed to be their area of expertise and focus.
Apart from the anger and disappointment, I also feel so sorry for Jonathan. The inquest has effectively agreed that he was correct from the outset, yet he’s been put through the wringer for 5 months.
I’m sure the organisations Jonathan named are well aware that he’s made this statement, and I’m also pretty sure they’re all preparing a PR piece to deflect any blame as we speak, but I’d like to see them get some pressure from the media to explain how and why they left a young, honest professional who was just doing the right thing so high and dry that he’s now questioning his faith in the system and whether he would advise others to have the courage to do the right thing as he did.
So thank you Jonathan Leko. Thanks for your bravery, your honesty and for making your justified and righteous stand. I can’t blame you for having your doubts about the future, but I hope when the dust has settled a little, we’ll see some acknowledgements of failure from the organisations that have let you down and some commitments to do better in the future. Hopefully then you'll feel more confident in the system as we go forward.
Those of us looking for a way to support anti racism might like to consider this survey request from a sociology student collecting info for a third year thesis on racism at football grounds. https://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/88428/survey-request
Jonathan Leko’s statement has really angered me. I’m not angry with him, I feel angry that he’s been let down in such a way by the very organisations that should’ve stepped up from the very beginning.
I hope, as a couple of posts above have suggested, that WBA and CAFC gave him appropriate support, that’s good to see, so we’ll done both of them. However, it’s only what he should be able to expect.
The fact that he felt he needed to explicitly name the FA, PFA, Kick It Out and SRTRC is appalling. What on earth have these people been doing? It’s not as if they didn’t know this incident happened. In all honesty, I’m most disappointed by the Kick It Out and SRTRC because this is supposed to be their area of expertise and focus.
Apart from the anger and disappointment, I also feel so sorry for Jonathan. The inquest has effectively agreed that he was correct from the outset, yet he’s been put through the wringer for 5 months.
I’m sure the organisations Jonathan named are well aware that he’s made this statement, and I’m also pretty sure they’re all preparing a PR piece to deflect any blame as we speak, but I’d like to see them get some pressure from the media to explain how and why they left a young, honest professional who was just doing the right thing so high and dry that he’s now questioning his faith in the system and whether he would advise others to have the courage to do the right thing as he did.
So thank you Jonathan Leko. Thanks for your bravery, your honesty and for making your justified and righteous stand. I can’t blame you for having your doubts about the future, but I hope when the dust has settled a little, we’ll see some acknowledgements of failure from the organisations that have let you down and some commitments to do better in the future. Hopefully then you'll feel more confident in the system as we go forward.
Jonathan Leko’s statement has really angered me. I’m not angry with him, I feel angry that he’s been let down in such a way by the very organisations that should’ve stepped up from the very beginning.
I hope, as a couple of posts above have suggested, that WBA and CAFC gave him appropriate support, that’s good to see, so we’ll done both of them. However, it’s only what he should be able to expect.
The fact that he felt he needed to explicitly name the FA, PFA, Kick It Out and SRTRC is appalling. What on earth have these people been doing? It’s not as if they didn’t know this incident happened. In all honesty, I’m most disappointed by the Kick It Out and SRTRC because this is supposed to be their area of expertise and focus.
Apart from the anger and disappointment, I also feel so sorry for Jonathan. The inquest has effectively agreed that he was correct from the outset, yet he’s been put through the wringer for 5 months.
I’m sure the organisations Jonathan named are well aware that he’s made this statement, and I’m also pretty sure they’re all preparing a PR piece to deflect any blame as we speak, but I’d like to see them get some pressure from the media to explain how and why they left a young, honest professional who was just doing the right thing so high and dry that he’s now questioning his faith in the system and whether he would advise others to have the courage to do the right thing as he did.
So thank you Jonathan Leko. Thanks for your bravery, your honesty and for making your justified and righteous stand. I can’t blame you for having your doubts about the future, but I hope when the dust has settled a little, we’ll see some acknowledgements of failure from the organisations that have let you down and some commitments to do better in the future. Hopefully then you'll feel more confident in the system as we go forward.
Very well put and a real sorry state of affairs. Our game has so much more that it needs to do.
However, I sadly can’t say I am surprised with Kick It Out. There has been talk behind the scenes for a little while now that there are certain individuals who are doing things for their own agenda to make themselves look good. People in a position of power to enhance their careers. When in reality, they’re doing absolutely nothing to help, if anything making the situation worse because of their lack of support.
I feel sometimes the only way to stop these things happening is for a law to be passed. Any kind of racial or discriminatory abuse towards another person, specifically speaking about sport, a minimum ban, fine, and X amount of hours of education/handing back to the community, needs to be handed out.
Unfortunately, football seems to be going backwards in some respects and it must be stopped before it gets worse.
This shows how little the FA care about such appalling actions.
1. If I had, during the course of my working day, gone up to a black colleague and said “you f***ing n*****” and the resulting disciplinary hearings found the same balance of probabilities went against me I’d have been dismissed for gross misconduct.
2. I seriously doubt it would have taken anywhere near as long as 22 weeks for the hearings to be completed and the findings determined.
3. I would have been suspended whilst the investigations and hearings were in progress.
His defence at first seems to be that he was just asking his name and that changed to that he did not know that he was using a racist word.
When I did a basic Spanish course I learnt how to order a beer, dinner and how to ask where the bus station was. The course did not include how to racially abuse someone or swear words. I would suggest that he specifically asked and then learnt these words, but he seems to be saying he picked up the phrase in general conversation with friends and colleagues and didn’t understand what it really meant.
I would assume that this group will be the players, management team, staff and owners of Leeds Utd. Their defence of his actions do suggest that they think it is OK, or am I missing something?
They should be asked to explain their stance.
I think that Leeds response is utterly disgraceful and that they should now be charged with bringing the game into disrepute. Because they have.
Comments
Jonathan’s statement reads: “I am naturally relieved that the process is now complete and the FA have upheld what I have always known to be true – that I was racially abused by Kiko Casilla in a manner which shocked me and still angers and upsets me to this day.
“I have been disappointed with the amount of time it has taken to reach this point. Knowing what occurred in the game that day, it has been difficult to watch Kiko Casilla continue to play for such a lengthy period as if nothing had happened.
“I would urge the game’s governing bodies to look into their own processes when such incidents are reported. It was 22 weeks between the incident and the hearing during which I had minimal contact from the PFA, of which I am a member, and no contact in the way of support from leading anti-racism bodies such as ‘Kick It Out’ and ‘Show Racism The Red Card’. Some support or guidance would have been very welcome.
“By bringing the incident to the referee’s attention immediately, I was only doing what I have been educated to do throughout my career. But I found the hearing, at which I was made to feel I had done something wrong, extremely stressful.
“It made me question whether I would be prepared to go through it all again were I on the receiving end of similar abuse in the future. I certainly would think twice about how to advise another player placed in the same situation.
“From the outset, all I have done is report something that had to be challenged and exposed for what it is – racial abuse. I now want to put the episode behind me and concentrate on recovering from my injury to be ready for next season.”
In my view it should stand for what it is, a crystallisation of both the specific issue and the wider context for those involved in the sport, and should stand as a solid reference point for future action, and the future development in the fight against racism in football.
The F.A. praised Leko for his conduct and frankly his courage, and his statement gives some indication why.
I feel a lot of respect towards Leko.
Appalling that so many organisations who were supposed to help him through this difficult process have miserably failed to support him.
Hang your heads in shame FA, PFA, Kick It Out and Show Racism The Red Card.
Leeds United handling of this affair is quite frankly beyond contempt. Casilla should have been sacked and booted out of English football.
This is why this racist Bullshit continues to happen. Because racists know they will continue to get away with it.
But I agree it is terrible Leko and Bonne have got and continue to get abuse, and 5 months seems way too long for a resolution. The fact they both stuck at it for that long makes them even more heroic really.
Many points to dwell on from what he says, but surely the lack of support from PFA, I wonder if Castillo got support from them? Also no support from Kick it out, so its Kick it out on your own.
Apart from his own suffering, a real sad thing, if understandable, is what he would do or advise a young player to do in a similar situation. This is just has to be picked up. It's like where we were 20 years ago on rape or grooming.
I am not comparing the offences but the lack of support and belief and feeling like you have done something wrong.
Shit this ain't good.
I hope that Leeds look at their response, it was pathetic and embarrasing, I hope they reconsider their response and offer some sort of a proper apology.
The other consideration is the severity of the punishment, which to me was poor, to see a player banned for three months for gambling, and KC gets 8 games for racism appears disproportionate.
https://www.wba.co.uk/news/2020/march/jonathan-leko-statement-following-fa-verdict/
Until players get proper bans and players or clubs get proper fines then nothing much will change.
Leeds got fined 200k for spying on a training session.
Huddersfield fined 50k for having an oversized sponsor logo for a joke in a friendly.
Millwall fined 10k for racist chanting in an FA Cup game last season.
Casilla is allowed to play on for 5 months and gets 60k for blatant racism.
Unfortunately there are still a few standing by him on Twitter and refusing to believe it, just a shame The FA didnt release the report the same time as the ban
I’m not angry with him, I feel angry that he’s been let down in such a way by the very organisations that should’ve stepped up from the very beginning.
I hope, as a couple of posts above have suggested, that WBA and CAFC gave him appropriate support, that’s good to see, so we’ll done both of them. However, it’s only what he should be able to expect.
The fact that he felt he needed to explicitly name the FA, PFA, Kick It Out and SRTRC is appalling. What on earth have these people been doing? It’s not as if they didn’t know this incident happened. In all honesty, I’m most disappointed by the Kick It Out and SRTRC because this is supposed to be their area of expertise and focus.
Apart from the anger and disappointment, I also feel so sorry for Jonathan. The inquest has effectively agreed that he was correct from the outset, yet he’s been put through the wringer for 5 months.
I’m sure the organisations Jonathan named are well aware that he’s made this statement, and I’m also pretty sure they’re all preparing a PR piece to deflect any blame as we speak, but I’d like to see them get some pressure from the media to explain how and why they left a young, honest professional who was just doing the right thing so high and dry that he’s now questioning his faith in the system and whether he would advise others to have the courage to do the right thing as he did.
So thank you Jonathan Leko.
Thanks for your bravery, your honesty and for making your justified and righteous stand.
I can’t blame you for having your doubts about the future, but I hope when the dust has settled a little, we’ll see some acknowledgements of failure from the organisations that have let you down and some commitments to do better in the future. Hopefully then you'll feel more confident in the system as we go forward.
https://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/88428/survey-request
However, I sadly can’t say I am surprised with Kick It Out. There has been talk behind the scenes for a little while now that there are certain individuals who are doing things for their own agenda to make themselves look good. People in a position of power to enhance their careers. When in reality, they’re doing absolutely nothing to help, if anything making the situation worse because of their lack of support.
I feel sometimes the only way to stop these things happening is for a law to be passed. Any kind of racial or discriminatory abuse towards another person, specifically speaking about sport, a minimum ban, fine, and X amount of hours of education/handing back to the community, needs to be handed out.
Unfortunately, football seems to be going backwards in some respects and it must be stopped before it gets worse.
Now we've got a verdict, we should probably reach back out.
Both the club and Matt Southall have managed to put out effective, measured tweets
but not this lot, for whom this case is, to ought to be, central to their remit.
But they apparently think it's all down to us fans to kick racism out of football.