English FA launches appeal, wants longer ban for coach

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LONDON — The governing body of English soccer has appealed against the sanction imposed by an independent panel on a lower-league manager banned for 15 months for using discriminatory language toward his players. The Football Association says it believes "a longer sanction is appropriate" for John Yems. He is the former manager of fourth-tier club Crawley Town. He admitted to one charge and was found guilty of 11 others relating to comments made from 2019-22 that referenced ethnic origin, color, race, nationality, religion, belief or gender. Yems was found to have used Islamophobic language as well as racial slurs and stereotypes toward black players. Yet the panel agreed with the claim that Yems "not a conscious racist."