2023-11-22 15:59:21
The English Football Federation published its third annual report on diversity in the management and staff of professional clubs this Wednesday. As in previous years, the same observation was made: the white man is very well represented.
Things are moving, yes, but not fast enough. This, in short, is the assessment of the annual report of the English Football Federation (FA) on diversity in the management and staff of professional clubs. This Wednesday, the FA published the third version of its Football Leadership Diversity Code, launched in 2020, and this time covering the 2022-2023 season. With a novelty, since 53 voluntary clubs (including Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool or Manchester United among the Premier League leaders) provided their real data, including that on LGBTQIA+ staff or those with disabilities, to enable a study more precise.
Thus, among these 53 training courses, 21% of managers and 29% of team leaders are women, while 7% of managers and 9% of team leaders are black, Asian or of mixed origin. Among technicians, 13% of coaches and 11% of senior coaches are black, Asian or of mixed origin.
“The pace of change remains slow overall”
“Staff numbers do not reflect the levels of diversity within the playing population – and hiring rates are currently not high enough to drive the rapid change that is needed,” the FA regrets in its summary, highlighting all just as “progress is being made in certain areas”, and that certain clubs have gone beyond the announced diversity objectives in their recruitment.
“However, the pace of change remains slow overall,” continues the federation, which therefore announces the arrival of a measure: “In order to accelerate progress, we plan, with the support of the Premier League, of the EFL , the Barclays Women’s Super League and the Barclays Women’s Championship, to make it compulsory for all professional clubs in the English leagues to report data on age, sex, gender, ethnicity, disability and orientation sexual behavior within their organization.”
Quoted at the end of the study, the general director of the Kick It Out association, which fights in particular against racism and for inclusion in football, also recalls that there remains a lot of work to be done. “The results obtained by clubs under the Football Leadership Diversity Code are disappointing, but we must now set bolder objectives,” he said, inviting all clubs to play the game of communicating data to the future.
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