Post by QPR Report on Oct 28, 2009 6:50:49 GMT
David Conn/The Guardian -
There are still too many closed doors within football's corridors of powerThe FA's board does not reflect English society, peopled as it is by 12 men, all middle-aged and white
The anti-racism banners and badges of the campaign group Kick It Out's "weeks of action" have this month framed a celebration of modern football's remarkable diversity on the pitch and greater tolerance off it – yet where power is brokered, the game remains almost wholly white. Having fought the long, remarkably successful, battle against racism in the stands, Kick It Out is now opening a new front: calling for more black and minority ethnic people in positions of leadership.
Herman Ouseley, the organisation's chairman, argues this should begin with the FA, whose board is peopled by 12 men, all middle-aged, and white. The government has urged the FA to appoint two non-executive directors, a reform Lord Burns called for in his 2005 review of the organisation, and Ouseley believes it would be hugely progressive if black or minority representatives were appointed in these roles.
"It is absolutely critical," said Ouseley. "We need diversity at board level, sooner rather than later. The FA needs to overcome its fear of change, and to understand it will benefit, if it becomes more representative of 21st century Britain."
Garth Crooks, an original Kick It Out campaigner, who describes as "horrendous" the racism he encountered as a First Division footballer in the mid 70s and 80s, is working with Ouseley in lobbying the FA to change. "I go to top grounds now," Crooks said, "including some where the abuse was particularly severe 20 years ago – Everton, West Ham, Chelsea, Leeds United – and I am amazed at how it has changed, that a non-white person can feel comfortable and unthreatened. But when you consider the diversity of our game, and world football, it is an indictment of the FA, in the modern era, that it is still so white.
"Burns has provided the blueprint, the opportunity for the FA to bring people in who can help it reflect today's world. It would be a small step, really, but one which would bring the governing body great credit."
Both Crooks and Ouseley believe that Lord Triesman, the FA's first independent chairman and a former Labour minister, is, in Ouseley's words: "A decent man with genuine values whom we can do business with." But as ever in football, any progressive move must be worked through the treacle of internal politics.
The FA's board comprises five members elected from the grassroots "national game", balanced by five professional game representatives – three Premier League delegates, two from the Football League. The national game directors stubbornly resisted the introduction even of the independent chairman for some time, because they believed any appointee would inevitably be seduced by the Premier League's allure. Yet even though Triesman has demonstrated he supports the grassroots and wider game, the national game board members are still understood to oppose appointing non-executive directors.
Last month the sports minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, insisted the reform should be made after the FA, in its response to the government's seven questions on financial regulation, provided a limp document which effectively surrendered authority to the leagues.
"Fully implementing Burns could enable the FA to better serve football … and create a national governing body more fit for purpose," Sutcliffe wrote in a letter to Triesman. "It could ensure wider representation at the FA that reflects in football the diversity of today's society; providing the best possible opportunities for women, disabled people, those from minority ethnic backgrounds or disadvantaged communities."
With that call came a threat to withdraw the funding for grassroots football, around £25m, due from Sport England between 2009‑13. The Premier League, with which Triesman is unpopular after his public warnings last year about "Game 39" and the size of clubs' debts, supports implementing Burns, yet Sutcliffe's stick is said to have incensed the national game directors, and made them less inclined to comply.
The FA's whiteness, and its sluggish approach to change, drew Ouseley's ire in May after a British National Party councillor attended the launch of England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup. Citing that as a "debacle", Ouseley said he, Crooks, Kick it Out's director Piara Powar, and Heather Rabbatts, the former Millwall chief executive, had two "heated" meetings subsequently with Triesman. These four, with the former Celtic and Chelsea player and now World Cup bid director Paul Elliott, have been working together as a lobby group to encourage the FA to introduce more of a racial mix into the organisation.
"I was very clear in those meetings that we wanted to see things happen," Ouseley said. "Basically I think Triesman is a decent man and the values are there, but he has a very big job and there are politics to work through. We want to help the FA become an effective, inclusive organisation which can be admired in world football, not seen as unrepresentative."
Triesman himself, chairing the World Cup bid and a divided FA board, steeped in the organisation's treacherous politics after almost two years in the job, is cautious about stating his intentions. As a point of principle, he told the Guardian: "I, and [the chief executive] Ian Watmore are completely committed to the organisation becoming more diverse and reflecting English society, and football, more adequately."
Where that will lead the FA in practice, however, is still uncertain. Triesman, picking his way, will not say whether he supports appointing independent directors, who could be black or Asian, and reforms to the council, which is overwhelmingly white and famously senior. He did say, however, that he is committed to examining ways in which the old governing body can modernise its make-up.
"I will hold discussions within the FA," Triesman promised, "which will allow us to look at our structures and systems to see what change there is support for."
Much of this discussion will take place behind closed doors in the FA's new Wembley offices, but the diary presents the organisation with a possible deadline. The annual meeting in May, at which any rule changes have to be presented, could test whether football's governing body has the appetite to walk towards reform.
"The World Cup bid means the world is watching," Crooks warned. "The FA is listening to more diverse groups now in a way they haven't under previous regimes, and if as a governing body it can become more representative, it would continue a wonderful journey for the game."
Some at the FA point out that as the board is elected, it only reflects the whiteness of the grassroots County Football Associations, and boardrooms of the 92 Premier and Football League clubs. Apart from club owners, an increasingly exotic mix of the international and domestic rich, there is, since Rabbatts left Millwall, just a single black or British Asian appointed executive: Jason Rockett, a Sheffield United director.
In this imbalance, the national game is reflecting the nation itself; with a general population more diverse than ever, yet "hideously white", to borrow Greg Dyke's memorable summation of the BBC, in government and positions of authority. It remains to be seen whether the FA, long one of England's more hidebound bodies, can, in the months ahead, be ushered into enlightened change.
www.guardian.co.uk/sport/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2009/oct/28/racism-fa-ethnic-minorities-kick-it-out
There are still too many closed doors within football's corridors of powerThe FA's board does not reflect English society, peopled as it is by 12 men, all middle-aged and white
The anti-racism banners and badges of the campaign group Kick It Out's "weeks of action" have this month framed a celebration of modern football's remarkable diversity on the pitch and greater tolerance off it – yet where power is brokered, the game remains almost wholly white. Having fought the long, remarkably successful, battle against racism in the stands, Kick It Out is now opening a new front: calling for more black and minority ethnic people in positions of leadership.
Herman Ouseley, the organisation's chairman, argues this should begin with the FA, whose board is peopled by 12 men, all middle-aged, and white. The government has urged the FA to appoint two non-executive directors, a reform Lord Burns called for in his 2005 review of the organisation, and Ouseley believes it would be hugely progressive if black or minority representatives were appointed in these roles.
"It is absolutely critical," said Ouseley. "We need diversity at board level, sooner rather than later. The FA needs to overcome its fear of change, and to understand it will benefit, if it becomes more representative of 21st century Britain."
Garth Crooks, an original Kick It Out campaigner, who describes as "horrendous" the racism he encountered as a First Division footballer in the mid 70s and 80s, is working with Ouseley in lobbying the FA to change. "I go to top grounds now," Crooks said, "including some where the abuse was particularly severe 20 years ago – Everton, West Ham, Chelsea, Leeds United – and I am amazed at how it has changed, that a non-white person can feel comfortable and unthreatened. But when you consider the diversity of our game, and world football, it is an indictment of the FA, in the modern era, that it is still so white.
"Burns has provided the blueprint, the opportunity for the FA to bring people in who can help it reflect today's world. It would be a small step, really, but one which would bring the governing body great credit."
Both Crooks and Ouseley believe that Lord Triesman, the FA's first independent chairman and a former Labour minister, is, in Ouseley's words: "A decent man with genuine values whom we can do business with." But as ever in football, any progressive move must be worked through the treacle of internal politics.
The FA's board comprises five members elected from the grassroots "national game", balanced by five professional game representatives – three Premier League delegates, two from the Football League. The national game directors stubbornly resisted the introduction even of the independent chairman for some time, because they believed any appointee would inevitably be seduced by the Premier League's allure. Yet even though Triesman has demonstrated he supports the grassroots and wider game, the national game board members are still understood to oppose appointing non-executive directors.
Last month the sports minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, insisted the reform should be made after the FA, in its response to the government's seven questions on financial regulation, provided a limp document which effectively surrendered authority to the leagues.
"Fully implementing Burns could enable the FA to better serve football … and create a national governing body more fit for purpose," Sutcliffe wrote in a letter to Triesman. "It could ensure wider representation at the FA that reflects in football the diversity of today's society; providing the best possible opportunities for women, disabled people, those from minority ethnic backgrounds or disadvantaged communities."
With that call came a threat to withdraw the funding for grassroots football, around £25m, due from Sport England between 2009‑13. The Premier League, with which Triesman is unpopular after his public warnings last year about "Game 39" and the size of clubs' debts, supports implementing Burns, yet Sutcliffe's stick is said to have incensed the national game directors, and made them less inclined to comply.
The FA's whiteness, and its sluggish approach to change, drew Ouseley's ire in May after a British National Party councillor attended the launch of England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup. Citing that as a "debacle", Ouseley said he, Crooks, Kick it Out's director Piara Powar, and Heather Rabbatts, the former Millwall chief executive, had two "heated" meetings subsequently with Triesman. These four, with the former Celtic and Chelsea player and now World Cup bid director Paul Elliott, have been working together as a lobby group to encourage the FA to introduce more of a racial mix into the organisation.
"I was very clear in those meetings that we wanted to see things happen," Ouseley said. "Basically I think Triesman is a decent man and the values are there, but he has a very big job and there are politics to work through. We want to help the FA become an effective, inclusive organisation which can be admired in world football, not seen as unrepresentative."
Triesman himself, chairing the World Cup bid and a divided FA board, steeped in the organisation's treacherous politics after almost two years in the job, is cautious about stating his intentions. As a point of principle, he told the Guardian: "I, and [the chief executive] Ian Watmore are completely committed to the organisation becoming more diverse and reflecting English society, and football, more adequately."
Where that will lead the FA in practice, however, is still uncertain. Triesman, picking his way, will not say whether he supports appointing independent directors, who could be black or Asian, and reforms to the council, which is overwhelmingly white and famously senior. He did say, however, that he is committed to examining ways in which the old governing body can modernise its make-up.
"I will hold discussions within the FA," Triesman promised, "which will allow us to look at our structures and systems to see what change there is support for."
Much of this discussion will take place behind closed doors in the FA's new Wembley offices, but the diary presents the organisation with a possible deadline. The annual meeting in May, at which any rule changes have to be presented, could test whether football's governing body has the appetite to walk towards reform.
"The World Cup bid means the world is watching," Crooks warned. "The FA is listening to more diverse groups now in a way they haven't under previous regimes, and if as a governing body it can become more representative, it would continue a wonderful journey for the game."
Some at the FA point out that as the board is elected, it only reflects the whiteness of the grassroots County Football Associations, and boardrooms of the 92 Premier and Football League clubs. Apart from club owners, an increasingly exotic mix of the international and domestic rich, there is, since Rabbatts left Millwall, just a single black or British Asian appointed executive: Jason Rockett, a Sheffield United director.
In this imbalance, the national game is reflecting the nation itself; with a general population more diverse than ever, yet "hideously white", to borrow Greg Dyke's memorable summation of the BBC, in government and positions of authority. It remains to be seen whether the FA, long one of England's more hidebound bodies, can, in the months ahead, be ushered into enlightened change.
www.guardian.co.uk/sport/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2009/oct/28/racism-fa-ethnic-minorities-kick-it-out
