The fight for equality must start by educating the ignorant, indifferent Government ministers
MATT HANCOCK has been getting plenty of stick for referring to Marcus Rashford as Daniel Rashford.
Rightly so. If he does not have ingrained in his mind the name of a national hero who has forced HIS Government into an embarrassing U-turn there is something unhealthily wrong.
But to cut the hopeless Hancock some slack, if you were in charge of a nation’s health at a time when pandemic victims were piling high enough to fill Old Trafford, you might be forgiven for being a bit flustered.
If you had been promoted beyond your capabilities and found yourself at the heart of one of the world’s worst responses to this Covid-19 crisis, you might be a touch discombobulated.
And getting a footballer’s name wrong has not always been the prompt for vilification. It was a hallmark of our national treasure, Sir Bobby Robson.
“What does the manager (Robson) call you?” a journalist once asked a black Newcastle United player, Shola Ameobi. “Carl Cort,” came the reply, referring to another black player at the club.
True or not, it seemed funny at the time. In the context of 2020, maybe not so funny. Which brings us to a couple of far more worrying ministerial utterances this week.
On a conference call, Nigel Huddleston was asked if it was time for a widespread introduction of the Rooney Rule. The Sports Minister replied: “You’re going to have to tell me the Rooney
Rule. I’ve heard of it but
…”
This is not solely Huddleston’s fault. This is the fault of a political system that elevates people into positions of power in fields in which they are not experts. Not even close.
Hence, Hancock in charge of the country’s health.
But the Rooney Rule is one of the most significant developments and most debated ideas in the governance of modern sport. And the best the Sports Minister of the United Kingdom can do?
“I’ve heard of it.”
To be fair to Huddleston, he spoke well on a range of other sporting-related subjects, including the issue of whether central government should become more proactive in how sport should run itself. It should.
White turkeys are not going to vote for Christmas. White sporting executives are not going to vote for greater diversity if it means they are redundant.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said the Rooney Rule was not on their agenda.
No surprise there. That is why the Government, and Huddleston, must intervene. They are quick to wallow in their “achievement” of getting a few Premier League matches broadcast on free-to-air TV.
Maybe they will now clearly see the players on one knee, wanting change.
This is a collective force for change that, I suspect, we have not seen for a long time.
But change will not be enforced by administrators compelled, in some instances, to pay only lip-service to equal rights.
It will be enforced by those in real power. A nation’s elected officials.
But when those officials do not even know what the Rooney Rule is – for their information, it is a rule that makes a sporting organisation interview a BAME candidate for a vacant coaching or senior administrative post – then what hope have those fighting for equality in sport and life?
And what hope have they when the second most powerful politician in the country thinks the act of taking a knee comes from Game of Thrones?
What hope when Dominic Raab (above, top), the Foreign Secretary for goodness sake, believes the subject trivial enough to joke about only going down on one knee for the Queen and the ‘missus’?
Actually Raab and his missus cannot remember if he did propose in that manner because they had ‘‘obviously had too much champagne at the time’’.
I am all for the odd gag but when such a key Government figure responds to football’s emotive protests with flippancy and glibness, it speaks volumes for their nonchalance. Raab’s conciliatory tweet could not conceal his instinct.
After the game at the Etihad, Raheem Sterling and Pep Guardiola spoke powerfully of how football is making a statement, how it is becoming a force for change.
But it will have to be some force up against the indifference and ignorance of Hancock (above), Huddleston (above, middle), Raab and their leader.
If the likes of Sterling and Guardiola dropped to a knee in despair, no one would blame them. Thankfully, they won’t.