Following Greg Clarke's resignation as the Chairman of the FA and the racial abuse footballers are receiving on social media, there needs to be a radical change, not only in the way our national sport is run but in who we let own our football clubs in general.  As awful as Greg Clarke's comments were, they were in no way surprising. It is surely no coincidence that the head of a sport that has serious problems eradicating racism, homophobia and sexism from the playing field and the boardroom made the remarks he did. There are some huge issues football needs to address if it is to become a positive influence on society.

There are hardly any openly homosexual male footballers in the professional game. Mr Clarke's comments about homosexuality being a 'life choice' sets the game back years and by proxy, a large section of society that sees football as a way of life and as a moral compass. What's even more concerning is that one of England's largest clubs, Manchester City, is owned by an openly homophobic, human rights abusing dictatorship in the form of the Al Nahyan family, who consider homosexuality to be crime in the UAE. Newcastle United and Derby County have also been targeted by groups involved with homophoic dictatorships. Our national sport is in serious danger of becoming institutionally and permanently homophobic if we continue to allow people with these views to run football clubs. Large numbers of fans are willing to tolerate and defend the Al Nahyan's views because they pump money into the football club they support. Our children will grow up thinking homophobia is acceptable because football tolerates it. It is high time the FA and the Premier League came together to block sales of football clubs to owners who hold homophobic or racist beliefs. The human rights record in the UAE is vile and yet our governing bodies, led by people like Mr Clarke, are willing to turn a blind eye to it because of the money the Al Nahyans bring into the Premier League. THIS IS ABSOLUTLEY NOT acceptable when football holds such huge influence over the general public.  

There is also the ongoing issue of racism in the sport, which Mr Clarke has made worse following his comments. Again, football holds sway over so many people, if the head of the FA thinks it's acceptable to make racist comments, then so will legions of football fans. Look at the terrible racist abuse footballers have suffered on social media. If the FA and the Premier League can't govern themselves in an acceptable manner and continue to value money over morals, then it is vital that the government steps in to make sure that crucial changes in the game are made. A zero tolerance policy on homophobia and racism be implemented as soon as possible. The role of football cannot be understated here, there is no such activity in our country that holds so much sway over people as football does. If we can fix our national sport then we can go a long way to eradicating discrimination in all walks of life.