Racial harassment claims upheld against ex-Crawley boss

Three claims of racial harassment have been upheld by a tribunal against former Crawley Town football manager John Yems.

An employment tribunal ruling on Monday found that Crawley were left "vicariously liable" following allegations from former player Amrit Bansal-McNulty that the club failed to protect him from abuse by Yems.

Yems, who managed Crawley between 2019 and 2022, had previously been handed a three-year ban by the Football Association (FA), after being found guilty of 11 charges of discrimination while at Crawley.

The tribunal found all other claims of harassment against Yems failed and were dismissed, as were claims of direct racial and religious discrimination made against him.

Bansal-McNulty, a former Northern Ireland Under-21 international, had also made claims against QPR, but these failed.

Yems' ban, which had been increased from 17 months following an appeal, was the longest ever handed out for discrimination by the FA despite four charges being dismissed and the original commission concluding Yems was "not a conscious racist".

The employment tribunal upheld Bansal-McNulty's claims, which involved Yems making derogatory comments about eating curry towards the midfielder.

Yems had attempted to characterise the comments as "banter", according to the tribunal.

Bansal-McNulty, whose father is Indian and mother is Irish, made the claims following his loan spell at Crawley during the 2021-22 season.

He is seeking compensation after claiming that the abuse he suffered caused "psychiatric, and career-ending, injury". The issue of a remedy hearing will involve only Yems and Crawley.

In its final observations, the tribunal noted: "Unfortunately there are no real winners in this case. Whilst the Claimant has been partially successful in his claims against Mr Yems, and vicariously Crawley Town, his claims against QPR have failed.

"Mr Yems has not, and realistically was never going to, obtain the exoneration of his conduct and character he was seeking."

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