Friday 19 January 2018 21:46, UK
The NFL has ruled that the Oakland Raiders complied with the Rooney Rule when hiring head coach Jon Gruden, after a week-long investigation.
The Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least one person from a minority background for each head coaching or senior football operations position.
It was thought that the Raiders had complied with this after Oakland's general manager, Reggie McKenzie interviewed the team's tight ends coach Bobby Johnson and USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin before announcing that John Gruden was to be appointed on January 6.
However, at a news conference to present the new coach, owner Mark Davis revealed they held their first meeting on Christmas Eve, a meeting he left feeling "pretty confident he was all in".
Davis added: "I never wavered from all in and this time he didn't waiver either".
The Raiders had faced the possibility of a fine if they were found not to be in compliance with the rule but the league has concluded that the franchise held sufficient interviews with minority candidates as part of the hiring process.
An investigation was launched after the Fitz Pollard Alliance, a campaign group that promotes diversity in American football, asked the league to look into Gruden's appointment.
In a statement released on Friday, the Fritz Pollard Alliance said it "strongly disagreed" with the NFL's ruling, adding: "We believe the facts overwhelmingly point in the other direction.
"In his enthusiasm to hire Jon Gruden, Raiders' owner Mark Davis failed to fulfil his obligation under the rule and should step forward and acknowledge he violated the rule.
"The NFL broke ground when it created the Rooney Rule, but it made the wrong call in refusing to penalise Mark Davis in this instance."
