Miedema: There needs to be more diversity in game
The 27-strong Arsenal women’s squad
ARSENAL striker Vivianne Miedema admits there is still racial inequality in the women’s game amid criticism of the Gunners for having not a single person of colour in their WSL squad.
The London club have been lambasted for a lack of diversity after a picture of their 27-player roster went viral.
Arsenal insist the snapshot “does not reflect the diversity that exists across the club and the community” – while Dutch star Miedema claimed it also did not reflect the multicultural essence of London.
The 27-year-old said the women’s game needs to do more to ensure players of colour are given equal opportunities to progress to the highest level of the game.
Miedema (below) said: “You don’t build a team based on background or colour.
“But there is an enormous amount of talent that struggles to choose the right path.
“That’s why clubs have to work very hard to ensure that every talent is seen, that everyone can go after her dreams.
“That that inequality exists is hard to swallow and it should have been addressed much earlier.
“London is pre-eminently the place in the world where people of all backgrounds live interchangeably. But not everyone gets the same opportunities. Not everyone has the ability to take the kids to the training complexes outside the city every day, for example.
“More girls with roots in Africa should play on reflection of society. You also see this in rugby in England and hockey in the Netherlands.
“The photo in question does show 13 different nationalities. And if you look at the team photos of recent years, you see a different picture with Asian and black girls.
“You could call this photo a snapshot because Arsenal is a club where diversity is an important thing.”
Miedema admitted that Jonas Eidevall’s squad had discussed the obvious lack of diversity in their team before the squad photograph was made public.
She added: “Naturally, I get the discussion about our Arsenal women’s team photo. There are only white girls in it and that caused a lot of reactions.
“We also discussed the photo in the players’ group. Of course, this photo is not a reflection of multicultural London. It is a no-brainer to make that conclusion.
“But I would like to broaden the discussion, broader than a selection photo at the start of a season.
“Because in a general sense, it is certainly true that not everyone gets equal opportunities.
“A coach and the club’s technical management make choices based on quality and not on a player’s looks, religion or sexual preference. I trust that and I am convinced of that.” “But even with that as a starting point, the ratio of white to black should be different.
“I hope that in a few years, we can say that a team does reflect society.
“We are now talking about a football club, but of course this applies to much more than just sports.”