The South African Football Association (SAFA) is tackling a local football boss over allegedly racist social media posts.
John Ross, the chairman of the Cape Town Tygerberg Referees Association, commented on a controversial
incident during the Manchester City vs Burnley English Premier League (EPL) match played on Monday.
His Facebook post read: Has the world gone mad?
“So Manchester City play Burnley at the Etihad [Stadium]. All the players are wearing ‘black lives matter’ logo and all the players and officials take a ‘knee’ in support.
“Then somebody flies overhead with a ‘white lives matter’ banner and Burnley are outraged by this ‘offensive’ banner.
“If any white player did not take a knee or refused to wear the logo, he would be vilified.
“So the EPL believes that white lives are offensive.”
And it sparked a frenzy of racist comments, including that George Floyd, the African American who was murdered by police, “got what he deserved”.
Facebook Post
The Cape Town Tygerberg Football Association (CTTFA) issued a statement saying they “firmly condemn the social media post by Mr. John Ross” and “believe it is irresponsible and lacks understanding of the Black Lives Matter movement”.
SAFA Cape Town now wants the CTTFA to take action against Mr. Ross by the end of next week.
The umbrella football body of the Western Cape says: “We view the matter as serious.
“While we of the movement and the reason(s) for it, the comments made by Mr. Ross resulted in racist comments following.”
Ross has been contacted by the CTTFA and is aware of the investigation.
When the Daily Voice
contacted the former police officer yesterday, he said that his comments were never meant to cause offence.
He explains: “It’s very simple. I made the post, but I never said anything racist and I didn’t understand what the fuss was about. There is no racism.
“In fact, if you read the comment, I only criticised the
Premier League.”
And he insists that he’s been enlightened saying:” Afterwards I spoke to people I respect and I understand that it was insensitive. I realise that now. I understand that black people in the US and here in South Africa have suffered from injustice. It’s about treating both sides equal.”
Ross deleted his Facebook post and shared an apology.