{"id":514482,"date":"2026-03-04T20:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T20:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/514482\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T20:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T20:52:09","slug":"man-uniteds-jack-fletcher-apologises-for-anti-gay-slur-after-fa-sanction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/514482\/","title":{"rendered":"Man United’s Jack Fletcher apologises for anti-gay slur after FA sanction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manchester United<\/a> youngster Jack Fletcher<\/a> — son of former player Darren Fletcher — has been sanctioned by the Football Association (FA) for using an anti-gay slur during a match in October.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred during United under-21s’ 5-2 defeat against Barnsley in the Carabao Cup<\/a>, when the 18-year-old was heard by the referee directing the term “gay boy” at an opponent.<\/p>\n

Fletcher was handed a six-game ban — two of which he already served following the red card he received in that game — and the remaining four (non-first team) suspended games were given for the FA’s ‘Aggravated Breach.’<\/p>\n

The FA and Fletcher’s opponent both concluded that he had no intention to be anti-gay.<\/p>\n

Manchester United confirmed the player has since apologised, and stated he did not intend to use the term as an anti-gay insult.<\/p>\n

“I am truly sorry for the offensive word that I used in the heat of the moment,” Fletcher said.<\/p>\n

“Despite the fact that I had no intention to use the term as a homophobic insult, I completely understand that such language is unacceptable and immediately apologised after the game.”<\/p>\n

The club stated that Fletcher will strengthen his understanding of discriminatory language and why it is harmful.<\/p>\n

“In addition to his ongoing participation in regular academy programmes on diversity and inclusion, Jack will also take part in educational training through the FA,” a statement on their website read.<\/p>\n

“Manchester United prides itself on being an inclusive and welcoming club. Since launching All Red All Equal in 2016, we have embedded equality, diversity and inclusion into everything we do.”<\/p>\n

The teenager, who joined United in 2023 from Manchester City<\/a> along with his twin brother Tyler, has made three appearances in the Premier League<\/a> this season as a substitute and is considered one of the club’s brightest prospects.<\/p>\n

A post on social media from Rainbow Devils, United’s LGBTQ+ supporters’ club,<\/a> welcomed the player’s apology.<\/p>\n

“We hope Jack learns from this and grows as a person and a player,” it said.<\/p>\n

“His immediate regret and guilty plea suggests that he will.”<\/p>\n

Additional reporting from ESPN’s Rob Dawson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United youngster Jack Fletcher — son of former player Darren Fletcher — has been sanctioned by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-514482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}