The Football Association gave its backing to England manager Roy Hodgson on Thursday after he inadvertently created a media storm by telling his squad a joke about a monkey.
Hodgson apologised after several British newspapers reported that he had told the joke at half-time of his side’s 2-0 win over Poland on Tuesday, which saw them qualify for next year’s World Cup.
According to the reports, Hodgson encouraged his players to pass the ball to in-form Tottenham Hotspur winger Andros Townsend by telling a joke about a monkey being sent into space by US space agency NASA.
The word ‘monkey’ can have racist connotations, but although the joke concludes with the words “feed the monkey”, it is not racist in nature. Townsend is of Cypriot and Jamaican descent.
FA chairman Greg Dyke said that Hodgson was “a man of the highest integrity” and that he had “the full support of The Football Association”.
Dyke added: “He has fully explained to us what he said and the point he was making to the players in the dressing room at half-time on Tuesday night. He has also explained the context in which he made his remarks.”
Hodgson had earlier issued a statement saying: “I would like to apologise if any offence has been caused by what I said at half-time.
“There was absolutely no intention on my part to say anything inappropriate. I made this clear straight away to Andros in the dressing room.”
Townsend expressed surprise at the stories, writing on Twitter: “I don’t know what all this fuss is about. No offence was meant and none was taken! It’s not even news worthy!”
The joke, which reportedly emerged at NASA in the 1960s and 1970s, is about a man being sent into space for the first time alongside a monkey.
The astronaut becomes frustrated that the monkey is being asked to do all the work and radios mission control to ask what he should do.
NASA replies: “Don’t touch anything — just feed the monkey.”
Former England striker Stan Collymore was critical of the newspaper reports, writing on Twitter that the joke was inoffensive and that the story “demeans every anti racism campaigner by having (a) cheap pop at RH (Hodgson) who said NOTHING WRONG.”
England will begin their World Cup preparations with a pair of friendly games against Chile and Germany next month at Wembley Stadium.
All three countries have qualified for Brazil.
Germany, who thrashed England 4-1 when the teams last met in the last 16 of the World Cup in 2010, will be the last team that Roy Hodgson’s side face in the FA’s 150th anniversary year.
Chile last visited London in 1998, when two goals from striker Marcelo Salas secured a 2-0 victory for the South American side.
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