FOOTBALL clubs that don’t adhere to diversity reporting rules and workforce targets should face penalties, according to Tony Burnett, the CEO of Kick It Out.
The Football Association (FA) yesterday (22) published the data indicating that the 53 clubs enrolled in the Football Leadership Diversity Code (FLDC) failed to meet any of the eight hiring targets from the previous season.
“The club results for the Football Leadership Diversity Code are disappointing, but they are not wholly unexpected,” Burnett said.
Although progress is evident in some areas, the overall workforce in English professional football doesn’t adequately reflect the diversity among players, and hiring rates aren’t sufficient for rapid change.
To address this, the FA, with support from the Premier League, EFL, Barclays Women’s Super League, and Barclays Women’s Championship, intends to make it compulsory for all professional English clubs to report data on age, sex, gender, ethnicity, disability, and sexual orientation within their organisations.
Burnett added: “Clubs were only willing to provide limited recruitment data and there were no sanctions for failing to comply.
“Now is the time to be bolder. The FA’s intention to make reporting of diversity data mandatory for all men’s and women’s clubs is a step in the right direction.”
The FA board has approved a new rule requiring clubs to publicly disclose their workforce diversity data twice a year from the 2024-25 season.
Paul Elliott, co-founder of The FA’s Football Leadership Diversity Code, said: “The Football Leadership Diversity Code was conceived three years ago during a difficult period for society where many organisations increased their focus on representation and inclusion. The introduction of mandatory disclosure is the next step in this journey, and it will help to complement and support the positive work that’s ongoing in this important area of our game.”
The FLDC, established in October 2020 to tackle under-representation, witnessed collective failure by clubs to meet its targets in the recently released 2022-23 figures.
For instance, the target for senior leadership hiring from black, Asian, and mixed heritage backgrounds was set at 15 per cent, but clubs only achieved 9.1 per cent.
In men’s clubs, the goal for new coaching hires from these backgrounds was 25 per cent, but only 16 per cent was achieved.
Among the 53 club signatories, 21 per cent of senior leaders and 29 per cent of team operations are female.
Additionally, seven per cent of senior leaders and nine per cent of team operations are black, Asian, or mixed heritage.
In the coaching workforce, 13 per cent of coaches and 11 per cent of senior coaches are from these backgrounds.
FA chief executive, Mark Bullingham, said: “The Football Leadership Diversity Code was introduced to improve representation across senior leadership and coaching roles in English football. To help accelerate progress, we plan to introduce mandatory diversity reporting across the professional game from next season, which will help to provide greater transparency, maintain the pressure for positive change, and ensure English football is at the top of global industry in its levels of reporting accountability.”
Presently, clubs in the Premier League undergo independent evaluations under the league’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion standard (PLEDIS), while the EFL’s Equality Code of Practice evaluates work, learning, development, and commitment to EDI, assigning a grade of bronze, silver, or gold after review.
EFL chief executive, Trevor Birch, said: “The EFL’s aim is to help ensure our clubs are reflective of the communities they represent so this evolution of the Football Leadership Diversity Code aligns well with the requirements of the recently updated EFL Equality Code of Practice and our broader aims to diversify football’s workforce at all levels of the game.”
*Kick It Out is football’s equality and inclusion campaign. It works throughout the football, educational and community sectors to challenge discrimination, encourage inclusive practices and work for positive change. The campaign is supported and funded by the game’s governing bodies, including founding body the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), the Premier League, The Football Association and the English Football League (EFL).
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