EPL CEO Richard Scudamore "is set to learn his fate over the sexist emails that have put him under unprecedented pressure" next week after the EPL "finally confirmed he would face a formal hearing over the case," according to Ben Rumsby of the London TELEGRAPH. The league "bowed to calls to clarify whether its chief executive was the subject of disciplinary action" over comments made in private correspondence leaked by a former personal assistant. The case "will go before the Premier League's audit and remuneration committee." The committee is "empowered to take action against Scudamore, who could be formally reprimanded for emails containing crude remarks about women." The FA "could also come under new pressure to formally censure him next week after its own Inclusion Advisory Board called a special meeting to discuss the row." FA Chair Greg Dyke "joined those to have condemned" Scudamore's remarks on Wednesday when he described them as "totally inappropriate" (TELEGRAPH, 5/14).
The London DAILY MIRROR reported Dyke explained "why the FA decided not to take disciplinary action against Scudamore." Dyke: ''In terms of FA disciplinary policy we, as the FA, could have considered taking action had Mr. Scudamore's statements been made in the public arena. However our policy has always been that we do not consider something stated in a private email communication to amount to professional misconduct" (DAILY MIRROR, 5/14). The BBC reported anti-discriminatory group Football Against Racism In Europe Exec Dir Piara Powar tweeted, "The Scudamore saga highlights flimsy regulation. With government and opposition joining a Fifa member to raise concerns, the FA position looks like cowardice." FA Inclusion Advisory Board member Edward Lord said the FA's decision not to reprimand Scudamore was "worse than weak" (BBC, 5/14).
