Tony Dallas talks sport… and with more than 20 years working as a sports development officer he knows what he’s on about

Published: 2 May, 2013
by TONY DALLAS

YOU’D think after all that has gone before it, the FA would at least have got the entertainment right at the PFA awards dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Sunday.

Instead of sitting back and listening to anecdotal stories from recipients of years gone by and reliving folklore, the new generation of nominees for player of the year and young player of the year were subjected to a comedy set that has been described as “embarrassing”.

Someone at the FA employed a black comedian who has a penchant for the ‘n’ word… how basic a mistake is that?

More importantly, how defining? I have met the comedian in question, Reginald D Hunter, and anybody that has met him or seen one of his shows would know he is an acquired taste and not the right man for a gig like this.

Grosvenor diners were subjected to racist slurs and provocative language with the ‘n’ word allegedly being used on numerous occasions.

My question is first how? And more importantly why? Comedians are given a lot more shrift when it comes to the matter of inappropriate versus appropriate language. Couple that with the fact that Hunter is from the deep south where the use of a word we find offensive is commonplace among the indigenous people and almost used as a term of endearment, this was always a recipe for disaster.

Just for the record, I do not agree with the use of the word in any form, comedic or otherwise, and have to wonder who books an act without checking it out first?

I find it indefensible but not unbelievable that PFA chairman Clarke Carlisle claims not to have known who booked the act.

The other question I have is why wasn’t the show stopped when it became clear that it was not the kind of laugh the FA needed? Questions I’m sure people will have to answer at some stage.

Maybe next time they should get a magician. It’d be a lot less controversial and given the fact that this is another glaring example of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing, a lot more appropriate.

• Do you think the PFA awards dinner would have been better served by  a real magician’s legerdemain? Tell us your view
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