The Football Association (FA) wants 30 per cent of the England men’s national team’s coaching staff to come from ethnically diverse backgrounds by 2028 as part of new plans announced to tackle discrimination, drive inclusion and boost representation in the game.
On Tuesday, English football’s governing body launched its 2024-2028 equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy, which is targeted at all levels of football in the country.
This comes after Kick It Out, a leading UK anti-discrimination charity, said in July that it had received the highest number of reports of discrimination it has ever had in a season during the 2023-24 campaign.
While outlining its new EDI strategy, the FA said: “Our commitment to creating a game free from discrimination is as strong as ever. We must embrace the unique diversity of our country and continue to use football as a force for good.”
By 2028, the organisation wants 30 per cent of England’s coaching staff in the men’s game to be from a Black, Asian, mixed or ethnic background, an 11-point increase on the current percentage.
The FA also wants 50 per cent of the women’s staff to be female and 50 per cent of all FA employees to be female by 2028, an eight-point increase on the current percentage of female employees.
There are also aims to increase the amount of FA employees who are from disabled or LGBTQ+ backgrounds in both coaching staff in the men’s and women’s games as well as leadership roles and the FA Council (the 92 elected representatives from across English football — the council meets to decide the major policies of the FA).
According to research conducted by Kick It Out, racism remains the most reported form of discrimination, with the charity seeing a 47 per cent rise in racist abuse across all levels of the game last season.
Meanwhile, faith-based discriminatory reports were also up by 34 per cent, driven by a sharp increase in antisemitism (63 per cent) and Islamophobia (138 per cent).
Although homophobic reports had fallen by 24 per cent, LGBTQ+ hate rose sharply online, with reports up from 43 to 65. Reports of transphobia online also increased by 183 per cent.
The FA plans to launch a new anti-discrimination standard for grassroots football, an initiative that will address the under-reporting of discrimination in the game. The organisation launched the Enough is Enough campaign in November 2023, aimed at tackling hate across grassroots football, and in the new EDI strategy, they want to build on the campaign.
A new initiative named Flag It, will be introduced. This will aim to challenge the bystander effect and reinforce the need for action when an individual sees, hears, or senses inappropriate behaviour at games.
The FA outlined plans to move to mandatory reporting of diversity numbers in the professional game and to grow the number of coaches and referees from historically underrepresented groups.
There are also plans to run campaigns to tackle misogyny and empower women in football as well as tackle LGBTQ+ cultural challenges through education.
“We want a football environment that is free from prejudice and abuse – whatever form it takes,” the FA added. “We believe the best way to tackle discrimination is by taking preventative action.
“We will run multiple initiatives that will improve the way incidents are reported, applying the appropriate sanctions, supporting victims, and developing behaviour change campaigns to ensure we effectively deal with the root causes of discrimination.”
(Top photo: Catherine Ivill – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
