Football club faces FA probe after 'mistreating black player and refusing to pay his medical bills'

A football club faces a probe by the FA after it treated a former player differently because he was black and 'refused to pay his medical bills'. 

Gillingham Football Club was ordered to pay retired striker Mark McCammon £68,000 in August 2012 after he sued the club over his sacking in 2011.

He claimed staff victimised the club's black players and treated them differently to their white team mates.

McCammon, 36, said the League One club tried to 'frustrate him out' by refusing to pay private medical bills that would help him regain fitness following a serious injury.

Instead, he claims he was offered the same operation on the NHS rather than privately, a move he described as 'completely out of character' for a Football League club, and that he was fined two weeks' wages when he paid a visit to a private consultant. 

In contrast, the 6ft 2in striker said a white team-mate was flown to Dubai for treatment by an eminent physiotherapist at the club's expense.

The former Barbados international player also claimed he was docked wages when he failed to turn up for training during heavy snow during 'treacherous' driving conditions, while some white players were told they were not required.

McCammon said he confronted manager Andy Hessenthaler about being 'racially intolerant' over the decision to order him in during snow and claimed Hessenthaler reacted angrily.

The striker was subsequently ordered to attend a disciplinary hearing and later received a letter saying he was dismissed.

McCammon, who signed for Gillingham for £2,500 a week in 2008, told an employment tribunal in 2012 he had been put 'through hell' and had not been given an answer over why he was treated differently to other players.

Dubai-based Gillingham chairman Paul Scally described McCammon's claims as being made 'maliciously and without foundation', adding that the club had not had to deal with an allegation of racism in 18 years.

The club lost an appeal last September and the original decision was upheld and they had to pay compensation to McCammon, who also played for Doncaster Rovers and Millwall.

Now Gillingham chairman Paul Scally and the club have been charged by the FA over the dismissal of the player.

The FA claim Gillingham FC breached FA Rule E3 by 'failing to act in the best interests of the game, and/or bringing the game into disrepute by committing an act of race victimisation' by dismissing Mark McCammon.

Both Gillingham and Mr Scally have until November 14 to respond.

Dailym