Wigan’s Dave Whelan banned for 'chinky' remarks, but FA says he’s ‘not a racist’

Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan has been banned from all football-related activity for six weeks over comments he made about Jewish and Chinese people, the Football Association announced.

Whelan, 78, accepted an aggravated misconduct charge and was also fined £50,000 (HK$603,000), warned about his future conduct and ordered to undertake an education course. He has seven days in which to decide whether to lodge an appeal.

The FA’s disciplinary commission found that Whelan had committed an aggravated breach of its rules because his comments included “a reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or nationality and/or religion or belief”.

However, the commission said it was “satisfied” that Whelan “is not a racist”.

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Whelan defended his appointment of manager Malky Mackay, who is being investigated by the FA over claims he sent racist and anti-Semitic text messages to a colleague during his time at Cardiff City.

Referring to remarks allegedly made by Mackay, Whelan was quoted as saying it was “nothing” to call a Chinese person a “chink” and also said: “Jewish people do chase money more than everybody else.”