Three claims of racial harassment against former Crawley manager John Yems have been upheld by an employment tribunal.
Amrit Bansal-McNulty, an ex-Northern Ireland Under-21 international, is suing former clubs QPR and Crawley for around £12 million.
He alleged the clubs failed to protect him from Yems’ abuse during his 2021-22 loan spell at Crawley.
An employment tribunal judgment on Monday noted Mr Bansal-McNulty was “partially successful” in his claims against Yems, whose conduct from 2019-2022 left Crawley “vicariously liable”.
One of the charges upheld involved Yems calling Bansal-McNulty a “curry muncher” and then asking whether the midfielder was unhappy that pizzas being supplied did not include a “curry pizza”.
Yems had attempted to characterise such remarks as “banter”, according to the tribunal judgment.
However, the claims against QPR, who Bansal-McNulty joined in 2014 aged 14 and left in 2022 without playing for the first team having had a number of loan spells at other clubs, have failed.
Bansal-McNulty is seeking compensation after claiming that the abuse he suffered caused “psychiatric, and career-ending, injury”. The issue of a remedy hearing will involve only Yems and Crawley.
In its final observations, the tribunal noted: “Unfortunately there are no real winners in this case. Whilst the Claimant has been partially successful in his claims against Mr Yems, and vicariously Crawley Town, his claims against QPR have failed.
“Mr Yems has not, and realistically was never going to, obtain the exoneration of his conduct and character he was seeking.”
In January Yems finished serving a three-year ban, increased from 17 months following an appeal by the Football Association, after being found guilty of 11 charges of discrimination while at Crawley.
The ban was the longest ever handed out for discrimination by the FA although four charges were dismissed, while the original commission concluded Yems was “not a conscious racist”.
