FA sacks ex-Premier League referee over racist remarks towards black official

The identities of the refereeing team for the match have been redacted from the FA panel’s written reasons for their decision. But the document shows the victim – an assistant referee – turned out to be the only person of color in the room.

Gifford has pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations, insisting that if he had believed the words had been used or spoken in a deliberately aggressive or insulting way, he would have resigned with immediate effect.

But the Regulatory Commission unanimously found the allegation to be proven and both the FA and PGMOL moved quickly to cut ties with him.

However, the spotlight shines on the PGMOL’s observer system, many black and brown referees have complained extensively that they were racially abused – and denied promotion – by some of the people who evaluate them.

It is the second time in two years that Gifford, 76, has been found guilty by an FA panel of discrimination. In March 2022, he received an eight-match ban for telling an Eastern European official who had innocently interrupted a post-match chat he was having: “Shut up! You are not in Bulgaria now!”

At the time, Gifford said, when asked for his observations, that he was “of the generation that calls a spade a spade.”

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