FA must hit targets over race diversity
PUSH TO INCREASE BAME BOARD MEMBERS
The FA and other governing bodies will face racial diversity targets for their boardrooms from next year, with the Government determined to add ethnic representation to the gender quotas introduced three years ago.
A joint review of the Code for Sports Governance conducted by Sport england and UK Sport will be published next month, with a push for greater racial diversity understood to be at its heart.
The initial code, published in 2017, made it mandatory for boards to be at least 30 per cent female to ensure continued receipt of Government funding. But it failed to address racial imbalance — highlighted by people from BAMe backgrounds accounting for just 5.2 per cent of board members across 130 Government-funded organisations.
A review of the code will be published next month. Sportsmail has learned that a new target of 15 per cent of board members to come from BAMe backgrounds is under consideration. An alternative proposal is for the existing 30 per cent gender equality threshold to be increased to 40 per cent, but for it to cover all under- represented groups including ethnic minorities, disabled people and those with serious health conditions.
Anti-racism campaigners are lobbying strongly for a specific racial diversity threshold to be introduced. They argue that the issue has never been more important, given increasing racial abuse directed at sports stars on social media and the fallout from athletes who take the knee to express support for equality before matches, particularly in football.
The FA led the way by publishing a Football Leadership Diversity Code in October which introduced inclusion targets for recruitment — but they do not have a single BAMe member of their board.
Research by UK Sport and Sport england last year found that BAMe directors accounted for just 5.2 per cent of board members across all sports. Of the major sports, only the eCB and UK Athletics boards have BAMe representation, in the form of Ron Kalifa and Anne Wafula Strike, respectively.