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Ron Jans resigns from FC Cincinnati after accusations of using racial slur

After an MLSPA investigation was opened last week for accusations of inappropriate language, Ron Jans has resigned from his position as head coach of FC Cincinnati with the team just 12 days away of its first game of the season.

“As Major League Soccer’s investigation unfolded and some themes emerged, Ron offered his resignation and we agreed that it was the best course of action for everyone involved with FC Cincinnati.” said club president Jeff Berding.

The 61-year-old Dutchman is alleged to have used a racial slur while singing along to a song in the locker room at the team’s preseason camp in Bradenton, Florida.

A response statement from MLSPA cited ‘extremely inappropriate comments’ and it is unknown which player or player combination raised the concern to prompt the investigation.

“We place the utmost importance on a strong culture within our club, beginning in our locker room, and that every person connected with FC Cincinnati feels valued, respected and trusted. Racial and cultural diversity is a major part of what makes the game of soccer so special, and we place the highest priority on respecting every person involved in our game. This includes absolutely everyone associated with our club, from our locker room and front office, all the way through to our fans,” said Berding.

French assistant coach Yoann Damet, 29, will once again step up from his assistant coaching role to guide the team through its initial phase of 2020, though a statement provided by the club mentions general manager Gerard Nijkamp will begin a global search for a long-term solution.

Damet owned a 3-10-0 line in MLS play during Cincinnati’s disastrous expansion season when he coached in relief of Alan Koch in 2019.

FC Cincinnati opens up the season on March 1st against New York Red Bulls in Harrison, New Jersey.

Comments

  1. White people you all know better! If a group of Black people or Black Latinos are singing a song do not say the n word. It does not matter, if it is in the song. I am African American, Afro Latino, and Moroccan. I do not use the n word, because I am tired of other people who are not Black using it, and do not know the history behind it as well as the diff between er and a. Glad this idiot resigned, he is an Ignoramus Moran made up Latin for a freaking idiot! who lost his job over being racist in a country he is not even from or a citizen of. Smh, and its Black history month you all are so disrespectful!

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    • Like the time some rapper invited a white female on stage to sing along to one of his songs, and she sang the n word and then the music stopped. Such hypocrites for creating a problem when there is no problem.

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  2. I think the big thing we all have to understand is that we don’t know who whole story. It’s likely not something so minor as to singing along to a song that used a racial slur. On the surface yeah that seems aggressive to fire them. So unfortunately we’re going to be kept in the dark on the entire situation that unfolded, and should respect FCC and the MLS for their action.

    Nobody wants to see an MLS side fail, and I really hope Cincy can get it together

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  3. “….. is alleged to have used a racial slur while SINGING ALONG to a song in the locker room at the team’s preseason camp.”

    what has this country come too??? An issue with a song with racially charged language????? So no rap in the locker room or sing along to a song? Singing along to a song????? What happened to “coach this is offensive”, and the coaching going “sorry, I didn’t mean to offend anybody and if I did I’m sorry”. Wait, so the person playing the song loudly with the racial slurs is ok but its not ok to sing along if you are not the same ethnicity of the artist????? Wow…..

    There is one thing to be a racist pig but its another thing to just be politically incorrect.

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    • Seems like there is much more to the story that hasn’t really been divulged. Reports are suggesting there was a pattern of incidents (including something that happened at the end of the season last year) that taken together caused concern. You have to keep your locker room in order and have the players trust, and obviously from reports some players brought this up as an inappropriate situation.

      Cincy is a diverse city with an interesting history when it comes to race relations. The area where the new stadium is being constructed is predominately African American. There was a whole crazy phenomenon of the KKK/anti-KKK activists staging simultaneous rallies at Christmas time at Fountain Square in the 90s. There were some riots in the early 2000s in the city that were racially charged. The National Underground railroad Museum sits right in the city.

      The perception that the RJ incident could have on the community and the club would have made it VERY difficult for him to continue in my opinion as a result of whatever it was that he said that *upset some of his own players. The fallout that could have happened in the neighborhood would have been detrimental to the club moving forward in a positive way.

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    • It’s sounding like it was more than just the locker room incident – which itself is starting to sound less innocent than it looks on the surface.

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  4. Obviously I think he should be gone. MLS doesn’t want to be Europe with all it’s racism problems and making that perfectly known will help us watch better soccer.

    Weird situation though. You crank up a song with the N Bomb in the lyrics at my job, you won’t have a job for long, but someone, and I don’t know or care if they are black, white or other ( and neither does HR at my place of employment ) did. With no consequences.
    How is that possible? Do they not have an HR dept? Or does it only apply to non-players?

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  5. Please enforce the standard both ways too. If a player from that community loves to use those endearing words while singing along in the locker room, they should be dropped from the team too.

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    • Is that a veiled reference to a black guy singing it? Cinci made it pretty obvious that when someone sings the N word, what happens. IF you think it is double standard just say so.

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  6. Good move by FCC. Get that issue put to bed. I sort of wonder how this will shape the team in the early season. FCC have strengthened the squad from last year. Its a real shame that the club has to start out on with this sort of PR at the beginning of the season. Things seemed to be looking up. But leadership is very important in building the team. I am also questioning the decisions of the front office in terms of vetting the guy prior to his hiring. If RJ has been around soccer in Holland, he should know about diversity already and understand, but it seems that I read there was an issue at the end of last season also with some questionable comments that were made by the coach in reference to slavery. Not sure exactly what was said last year or this year, but obviously there is no place for any sort of racially charged language (especially from the coach) in soccer.

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