i took the below from today`s guardian "A black footballer who claims he was released from his club after being racially discriminated against will take his case to an employment tribunal on Tuesday. Mark McCammon, 33, alleges that he and other black players at League Two club Gillingham were treated differently from white players. McCammon, a Barbados international striker, signed a three-year contract with Gillingham in 2008, and was released three seasons later. The former Charlton Athletic, Swindon Town, Millwall and Brighton & and Hove Albion player signed with Lincoln City on loan in March until the end of the season. He is suing Gillingham and their chairman, Paul Scally, for race discrimination, breach of contract, unfair dismissal and failure of his ex-employer to pay him. It is understood he will claim that he and other black players were treated less favourably than white players in terms of punishments handed out for missing training, medical treatments and pay cuts following the club's relegation. The case will be heard over four days at an employment tribunal in Ashford, Kent. A spokesman for Gillingham said in February: "The allegations made by Mark McCammon are wholly rejected by the club. It would not be appropriate for the club to comment further until the employment tribunal hearing has taken place." really surprising story and unheralded in terms of precedent. i cant remember a case of an active footballer taking club to employment tribunal on these grounds. i will await with interest what has happened. i cant believe that any league club would carry on in such a way, it would be so contrary to their own interest when most teams have minimum 30-40% non-white players. mccammon has just kissed his career goodbye as we all know that football is a law unto itself and such actions are not welcomed by the majority. curbs was derided after he took west ham to tribunal for constructive dismissal. i find it hard to believe systemic racism is common place at the gills. lets see what the tribunal has to say.
I'll watch with interest but just can't see it being the case. I wonder if Chris Dickson and Simeon Jackson suffered similar problems? It sounds like a rubbish player (who has had previous claims of being a bad influence) being punished for whatever reason and now crying wolf. ''It is understood he will claim that he and other black players were treated less favourably than white players in terms of punishments handed out for missing training'' - Players missing training? Not good, whatever way gills fans look at it. Also, he signed a three year contract and left three years later - is that unfair dismissal?
Caly, I was getting seriously worried last year that Chris Powell was obviously a racist as all of his pre-season buys were white.
It will be interesting to see if the other Black players that were allegedly treated differently are going to back his claim up. It seems he has the hump that after agreeing to a paycut which was more than other 'white' players (mainly because he earned more than them, not because he is Black) and was not offered an extension when his three year contract expired. At Millwall he was a bad influence and a bully, causing a young Moses Asikodi to lunge at him with a butter knife at the training ground once. **** him any bad karma aimed at him is not because he is Black, it is because he is **** with a massive chip on his shoulder.
Ringo - unless you know him personally it is unfair to say that his character is sh1t - so I've edited your post - with my thoughts.
Alwaysright you are wrong, people i've known of good character that have known McCammon say his character is ****, so i would not want to personally know him on that feedback alone.
It is probably because he is struggling for cash so he thought up this story thinking he would make money out of it, what an idiot.
It won't cost him anything to bring a industrial tribunal and he can cause maximum disruption to the gills because tribunals have no time limit and you can drag them out. On many occasions a cheaper option is to pay over a few quid as shut up money. The thought of a black player playing the race card-whatever next.
By all accounts he has fallen out with just about every managers he's ever played for. I agree this is probably just a bullshit way of him trying to make himself some extra cash/get back at Gills for releasing him. He's also greatly decreased the chances of clubs wanting to sign him.
These tribunals can take months and months to come round. And if you haven't got any evidence to back up your claim you've had it.
Does anybody actually remember this bloke playing for us? Have to say I'd never heard of him before this thing blew up.
According to Wikipedia he played four games for us. But then according to Wikipedia he played five games for us. You choose! I suspect some of those were as sub. Wonderful player. Even better than Leon Clarke.
He won his case, but in the months to come, I think he may find out the true meaning of the phrase "Pyrrhic Victory". http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-19049495
I really want to comment in-depth on this, but I won't. This will have serious ramifications on all football clubs throughout the land. And not in a good way. That is all I will say.
I'm amazed that his case went through so quickly. My sister-in-law is making a similar claim against Newham Council, and thanks to Newham's delaying tactics , it has dragged on for a year so far and a new date has just been set for next January.
An absolutely tiny percentage of cases even make it this far, and of those very, very few are found in the plaintiff's favour. One of my friends was the subject of an egregious racial slur committed in front of an entire department full of people. In the middle of proceedings, she was persuaded to take 'voluntary redundancy' at very favourable terms and the manager concerned was shipped out to a branch that you had to get to by boat.