SCOTLAND’S OLD (WHITE) BOYS’ CLUBS
Little diversity at top of sport
Only three out of 70 directors at Scotland’s top football clubs are women, we can reveal.
A survey of Scotland’s 12 Ladbrokes Premiership clubs reveals the huge gender imbalance at a time when women lead all three main political parties at Holyrood and Britain has a new female Prime Minister.
And, with only one director from an ethnic minority, the boardrooms of Scotland’s top-f light clubs remain the domain of middle-aged white men.
The three women are Ann Budge at Hearts, Motherwell’s Leanne Thomas and Jacqui Low at Partick Thistle.
Budge is also the owner, while Thomas is the daughter of Motherwell majority shareholder Les Hutchison.
Low is the only one of the three who had no other link to the club before being invited on to the Firhill board.
The lone ethnic minority director is Ajay Chopra at Partick Thistle. Neither Celtic nor Rangers has ever had a woman director.
The same is believed to be true of Aberdeen, Dundee, Hamilton Accies, Kilmarnock, Ross County and St Johnstone.
It means football is lagging behind while women take on senior positions in other sports. Former solicitor general Les ley Thomson was appointed to the board of Scottish Rugby in 2013. And Scottish Golf chairman Eleanor Cannon is one of three women on that board.
But the Scottish Football Association, the game’s governing body, have never had a woman director in 143 years.
The eight-man Hampden board have two independent non- executive directors in Barrie Jackson and Gary Hughes – the latter being considered a better choice than some women candidates in 2015.
Remarkably, given the overall situation, the Scottish Professional Football League now have three females on their nine-member board.
Karyn McCluskey was appointed as an independent non- executive director in February, while Budge was elected as one of the three Premiership representatives on Wednesday.
Leeann Dempster, the Hibs chief executive, was also voted on as one of the two Championship representatives.
The appointments of Budge and Dempster reflect how highly the Hearts and Hibs pair are regarded. But most of the top clubs, and the SFA, continue to deny women places in their boardrooms.
An SFA spokesman hinted this might soon be rectified, saying: “We are ever mindful of the need to have greater diversity across Scottish football.”
It is understood steps may be taken to fast-track a woman on to the board.
Dempster, who joined the Easter Road club after six years in the hot seat at Motherwell, said yesterday she had never experienced negative reactions.
Previously working in media and advertising, she was persuaded into football by then Motherwell chairman John Boyle.
Dempster said: “Maybe I’ve been lucky in my career that the people I work with have engaged me for the work I do rather than gender or any other element. I have an expectation on how I want to be treated and I wouldn’t accept anything else.
“Genuinely, I haven’t experienced anything negative. Undoubtedly we’re beginning to see more diversity in the game and that, for me, can only be a good thing.”
Nicola Sturgeon has promised legislation to ensure 50:50 gender split on all boards of public bodies.
Laura Gordon, who is chair of Vistage International (UK) Ltd and sits on the Institute of Directors Scotland committee, said: “A male- dominated environment such as football would benefit hugely from female directors.
“Woman offer different perspectives, bring objectivity and challenge and avoid what can often become ‘group think’ at board meetings.”
The advantages of diversity have also been spelled out by Martin Gilbert, the chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, who sponsor the men’s and women’s golf Scottish Opens.
Before the latter got under way on Friday, he said: “Research has shown companies with gender-diverse boards perform better than competitors.”
Research shows that boards made up men and women perform better