FA Tried To Limit Black Players On England In 1990s
The Football Association tried to impose an unofficial quota system on the number of black players an England manager should be allowed to use, according to a new book about racism within the sport.
Pitch Black, written by Emy Onuora, includes a passage in which one of the sport’s leading anti-racism campaigners claims Graham Taylor admitted to him he had been summoned by two members of the FA’s hierarchy and told “in no uncertain terms” he should not go beyond a certain limit.
Moran, a Birmingham City player in the 1990s who eventually quit the game because of the racial abuse he suffered, recalls in the book: “Graham Taylor came up to me and said: ‘Look, I’m going to tell you something … I’m never going to admit it, I will be sued for libel.’ He said: ‘When I was manager of England I was called in by two members of the FA, who I won’t name …’ I volunteered two names. He said: ‘I’m not prepared to say, but I was told in no uncertain terms not to pick too many black players for the national side.’”
Taylor managed England from 1990 to 1993.