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Football Association (FA) chief executive Martin Glenn has apologised for comments he made about the Star of David when talking about political and religious symbols in football. Glenn was criticised for an "offensive" comment after highlighting the Star of David among symbols he believes breach football laws banning religious and political imagery. The Jewish Leadership Council, whose chief executive is former FA official Simon Johnson, said Glenn's comment was "inappropriate" and plans to complain to the FA. In a statement, Glenn said: "I would like to apologise for any offence caused by the examples I gave when referring to political and religious symbols in football, specifically in reference to the Star of David, which is a hugely important symbol to Jewish people all over the world. "I will be speaking with the Jewish Leadership Council and to [anti-discrimination organisation] Kick It Out to personally apologise." Kick It Out said it welcomed the apology, adding in a statement: "Glenn has contacted the organisation to clarify his comments on the Star of David and the swastika symbol, and to reiterate his apology to the Jewish community in particular." The Star of David, a symbol of Judaism, features on the Israeli flag which appears on national team kits and is displayed in stadiums. Last year, Glenn succeeded in persuading the International Football Association Board to change the statutes so that poppies commemorating Britain's war dead were allowed on England shirts and no longer flouted the regulations governing political, religious or personal symbols. Glenn, a member of the International Football Association, mentioned the Star of David while seeking to explain to reporters why the other slogans, statements or images should still be banned from being displayed on any equipment in the game. "We have re-written Law 4 of the game so that things like a poppy are OK," Glenn said. "But things that are going to be highly divisive, and that could be strong religious symbols, it could be the Star of David, it could be the hammer and sickle, it could be a swastika, anything like [former Zimbabwe's president] Robert Mugabe on your shirt, these are the things we don't want." Johnson, a former FA director of corporate affairs, said Glenn's examples were "ill judged" and in bad taste. "The Star of David is a Jewish religious symbol of immense importance to Jews worldwide," he said in a statement. "To put it in the same bracket as the swastika and Robert Mugabe is offensive and inappropriate. "We will raise formally with the FA the Jewish community's deep disappointment with this statement." The focus on the FA's policy on symbols comes after Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was charged for wearing yellow ribbon in support of Catalan politicians who were imprisoned or went into exile after the region held an independence referendum that was banned by Madrid authorities. "To be honest, and to be very clear, Pep Guardiola's yellow ribbon is a political symbol, it's a symbol of Catalan independence, and I can tell you there are many more Spaniards, non-Catalans, who are [expletive] off by it," Glenn told reporters after an IFAB meeting. "All we are doing is even-handedly applying the laws of the game. Poppies are not political symbols. That yellow ribbon is. Where do you draw the line?" Glenn also referenced the right-wing, eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP) and Islamic State (ISIS). "Should we have someone with a UKIP badge, someone with an ISIS badge? That's why you have to be pretty tough that local, regional, national party organisations cannot use football shirts to represent them," he said.
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