FAW charges TNS chairman Harris over social media post

What the report says

BBC Sport Football reports that The New Saints chairman and owner Mike Harris has been charged by the Football Association of Wales over a social media post. The case concerns material posted on X on 21 July, which the BBC says has since been removed and appeared to include AI-generated video showing topless women.

According to the report, the FAW has brought multiple disciplinary allegations against Harris. He is accused of sharing content considered offensive, insulting and derogatory, with the governing body also alleging that the post damaged the reputation of Welsh football and offended the dignity of individuals or groups through material viewed as contemptuous, discriminatory or denigratory.

Harris has been given seven business days to answer the charge. The New Saints are the reigning Cymru Premier champions and, as the BBC notes, have won the Welsh title 18 times, making the matter significant within domestic Welsh football because it involves one of the league’s most prominent club figures.

The BBC also reports that Harris was sanctioned by the FAW in 2019 over a separate offensive and discriminatory social media post. In that earlier matter, an FAW panel issued a suspended 10-match ban and a fine after an exchange involving former Connah’s Quay Nomads owner Gary Dewhurst. The current charge will now proceed through the FAW’s disciplinary process.