FA adopts ‘Rooney Rule’ for top England jobs

THE Football Association have introduced a ‘Rooney Rule’ that means at least one candidate from an ethnic minority background will be interviewed when the next England manager is appointed. The rule will also apply to the backroom staff, plus the women’s and junior teams. In a bid to repair the damage left by the Eni Aluko discrimination storm, Wembley officials have responded with new initiatives designed to make the FA ‘a more inclusive and diverse organisation’. But yesterday’s briefing did not go entirely smoothly. Trying to explain how the FA have improved their whistle-blowing and grievance procedures, chief executive Martin Glenn clumsily suggested a distinction needs to be made between men and women when it comes to the kind of ‘banter’ they will tolerate. ‘I think culturally what women will be prepared to put up with has been a bit different from guys,’ said Glenn. The FA moved quickly to qualify Glenn’s remarks, insisting he does not consider anything allegedly said by former England women’s coach Mark Sampson — or any of his staff — to be ‘banter’. They wanted the focus to be on their efforts to combat the fact there are just five black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) managers employed by the 92 Football League clubs, with only Brighton’s Chris Hughton (right) working in the Premier League. Glenn hopes the FA are setting an example with the Rooney Rule which others will follow, even if it was only last month the Football League revealed plans to pilot such a scheme. ‘We are there to set an example,’ said Glenn. ‘We are also quite a big employer with 28 England teams now, if you include men’s, women’s and disability. In talking to people at the Premier League and the FA, I don’t see any resistance to a Rooney Rule.’ The changes come in response to a crisis that erupted in the wake of Aluko’s allegations and concluded with the dismissal of Sampson. Hope Powell, who is black, was the women’s team manager from 2007 to 2011 and there are currently two ethnic minority coaches working at St George’s Park. Glenn added that 13 per cent of the FA staff are BAME, which he said was above average for a UK employer. But he accepted that a lack of opportunities for ethnic minority coaches needs to be addressed, even if the FA statement did qualify its introduction of a Rooney Rule by stating that at least one BAME candidate will be interviewed for each position ‘as long as such a candidate has applied and meets the recruitment criteria’. The Rooney Rule, introduced in 2003, requires NFL teams to interview at least one ethnic minority candidate for head coaching positions. It is named after Dan Rooney, the former Pittsburgh Steelers owner who pushed for its introduction. In 2002 only two of the 32 NFL teams had black and ethnic minority head coaches. Now, there area record eight.