Research shows BAME representation is lacking on and off pitch
Black, Asian and ethnic minorities (BAME) are excluded from key backroom staff roles in UK football, figures from the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) show.
According to the most recent data collected at the beginning of last year, ethnic minorities occupy fewer than 4 per cent of roles, including jobs as a physiotherapist, goalkeeping coach and technical director.
Despite 30 per cent of players in the top four divisions originating from BAME backgrounds, just 2 per cent of managers are black, Asian or an ethnic minority.
The Football League has historically faced criticism for the under-representation of BAME managers and coaches in the sport, prompting a full review, which will launch on Thursday (6th November). However, these figures suggest the problem is more widespread than first realised.
Heather Rabbatts, board member of the Football Association, said it was aware more needed to be done to better represent players and employees in the sport.
“I’m working on how we can develop a scheme for supporting black coaches within the Club England structure, and I hope to be able to say more about that in the very near future,” she told The Observer newspaper this weekend.
Plans include the introduction of a talent identification programme to provide increased opportunities for mentoring and professional development and help BAME coaches tackle the “closed shop” attitude in the sport.
BAME candidates currently make up 18 per cent of PFA coaching courses, but Rabbatts said increasing the number of ethnic minority representatives on selection boards would help improve the numbers on the FA-run, invitation-only Pro License courses.
“We’re all signed up to inclusion but you can’t have inclusion without representation,” she said. “Where we can see there are obstacles for the development of black coaches and managers we should all be committed to removing those barriers.”
The data, which covers the Premier League and Football League, has been sent to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport ready for a full report to be published later this year.
Helen Grant, minister for sport and tourism said there needed to be greater diversity across football administration generally.
“I want to see more from the game in getting black coaches through the ranks. I want a talent pool of people from all walks of life qualified and knocking on the door for the top jobs in coaching,” she said.
In other news, business secretary Vince Cable is expected to announce plans to reduce white dominance of UK boardrooms, following the success of the push to get more women on boards.
Under the plans, the details of which will be revealed next month, one in every five directors of FTSE 100 companies will come from an ethnic minority within five years.
“If we thought the problem in terms of female representation was bad, the problem with visible ethnic minorities is potentially even worse because you can count on one hand the number of visible ethnic minority heads of business or people on boards of FTSE companies,” a government spokesman said.