(PA via AP)Aluko, capped 102 times for England and a 4MS2 qualified lawyer, spent two years trying to convince the FA to believe Sampson made offensive comments in 2014 about whether her relatives coming from Nigeria for a game were infected with Ebola.Aluko was brushed off, and ultimately paid off by an FA appearing to hush the episode under the Wembley Stadium carpet.
Even when a settlement totaling 80,000 pounds ($105,000) was agreed to halt her grievance - ostensibly so England faced no distractions at the Women's European Championship in July - Aluko felt the wrath of FA.After Aluko's case emerged in public in August, and the FA's handling of the saga unraveled, the Chelsea player tweeted that the organization's policy was "ignore, deny, endorse.
The FA's response emerged when Aluko faced members of the House of Commons at a committee on Wednesday. The second tranche of the financial settlement would only be sent to Aluko if she publicly stated that the FA was not institutionally racist. That conduct was, according to Aluko, "bordering on blackmail."Not so, according to FA chief executive Martin Glenn, who followed Aluko in testifying at parliament with the player still in the Grimond Room behind her.
Yet the FA repeatedly undermined its own case, and at times its credibility in the four-hour hearing.It began with an element of contrition with the publication of a statement disclosing a barrister had finally concluded that Sampson did direct racially offensive jokes at Aluko and teammate Drew Spence on a separate occasion in 2015. There was even a public MS2 Mesos apology to the players.But once the inquisition by legislators began, the FA's stance shifted.