Soccer

Wigan chairman Dave Whelan faces fresh FA charge

Whelan referred to an old local Chinese restaurant as ‘chingalings’ in latest interview

Wigan Athletic Chairman Dave Whelan: “We weren’t being disrespected. We used to say, ‘we’re going to eat in chingalings’. Photograph: Barrington Coombs/PA
Wigan Athletic Chairman Dave Whelan: “We weren’t being disrespected. We used to say, ‘we’re going to eat in chingalings’. Photograph: Barrington Coombs/PA
Sat Dec 06 2014 - 13:21

The Football Association may take fresh action against Dave Whelan after the Wigan chairman became embroiled in another race row.

The 78-year-old is already facing a misconduct charge over remarks he made about Jewish and Chinese people in a newspaper interview where he was trying to defend the appointment of Malky Mackay as the Latics' new manager.

And in an interview with a Jewish newspaper on Friday, Whelan sparked fresh controversy when he referred to his old local Chinese restaurant as “chingalings”.

Response

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Whelan was granted an extension until December 12th to respond to his initial FA charge, and Press Association Sport understands the governing body is looking at his latest comments to decide whether to take any action.

The appointment of Mackay at the DW Stadium caused controversy as the Scot is still the subject of an FA investigation into allegedly racist text messages he sent during his time at Cardiff. Both he and Whelan deny being racist.

The Guardian reported on November 20th that Whelan said ”Jewish people do chase money more than everybody else’,‘ and, when asked about Mackay’s past indiscretions, replied by saying it was ”nothing” to call a Chinese person a ”chink”.

On that last point, the Jewish Telegraph asked Whelan whether he himself had ever used the term “chink”, to which he replied: “When I was growing up we used to call the Chinese ‘chingalings’.

“We weren’t being disrespected. We used to say, ‘we’re going to eat in chingalings’.

“The Chinese weren’t offended by that. That was the name everyone in Wigan called it (the first Chinese cafe in Wigan).”

Latest reaction

Michael Wilkes, a spokesman for the British Chinese Project which gives the Chinese community a voice in the UK, responded to Whelan’s latest comments by telling the Guardian: “Once again, Mr Whelan, rather distressingly, believes he can speak on behalf of Chinese people.

“His comments are extremely unhelpful in our fight to end discrimination and racism against Chinese people in the UK. Once more, he is using a public platform to tell a wide audience what Chinese people find offensive.

“Contrary to what Mr Whelan may believe, the vast majority of our community deem the terms ‘chink’ and ‘chingaling’ highly offensive. For many in the Chinese community these words hold deep emotional resonance, as they are often used in conjunction with racial violence, harassment and hate crimes.

“Therefore, to say that ‘there is nothing wrong’ with using such terms or that Chinese people ‘aren’t offended’ by their use, demonstrates a dangerous level of ignorance.”