At the Premier League Summer Shareholders' Meeting today, clubs continued to discuss their concerns regarding discrimination in football, in particular unacceptable incidents which occurred last season.
The League provided an update on work being carried out to improve sanctioning regimes and discussions with the police and the CPS to ensure that, when appropriate, statutory authorities take cases forward.
There are extensive plans to address discrimination in the game next season, including:
- Developing our ongoing No Room for Racism and Rainbow Laces work
- Enhancing and expanding the League’s existing BAME elite coaching programme to provide more coaches with a pathway into professional football
- Working with the PFA and EFL to create and jointly deliver a player-to-coach programme specifically for BAME professional footballers. This would include high-quality training courses and built-in work placements
- Extending a trial operated in Season 2018/19 with the police which aims to improve coordination between police and stewards
- Meeting with social media companies and Government to discuss online abuse and calling for more effective regulation in this area
Our long-term support for Kick It Out and the Raise Your Game initiative will continue and we will further develop the Equality Standard which requires all clubs to deliver inclusive policies, and have professional reporting and monitoring provisions in place.
Much good work has been done over recent years to promote inclusion and diversity in football but more is needed and we are committed to delivering it.