Ofcom attacks BBC for football pundit`s racism (05.10.2004)
The BBC has apologised after one of its football commentators used pidgin English to suggest what a black player was saying on the pitch.
Ofcom, the media watchdog, criticised the comment made by Alan Green during the Premiership match between Arsenal and Manchester United last season.
Green was commentating for BBC Radio Five Live when United`s Cameroon international midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba was seen remonstrating with the referee. He suggested to listeners the player was saying "me no cheat".
The BBC apologised for the incident on March 28 this year but Ofcom, which received a complaint after the event, said the incident had broken its code on standards.
The BBC has admitted the comment
was "ill-judged", but said it was made in the heat of a live broadcast and that Green has campaigned against racism.
The watchdog said: "We considered that the suggestion that a black player was incapable of speaking grammatical English was inappropriate, particularly given the drive to eradicate racist attitudes in football."
The ruling came as the BBC was forced to pay "substantial" damages to Martin O`Neill, the Celtic manager, for wrongly alleging that he had shares in a football agent business.
The claims, which said O`Neill had "exploited the loose disciplines of football", were made in a book published by BBC Worldwide as a follow-up to a series on Radio Five investigating the football transfer system.
