Meaningful change or ‘more of the same’: the voluntary recruitment code in men’s professional football coaching in England

ABSTRACT

This article offers an original empirical and theoretically grounded examination of the English Football League’s (EFL) Voluntary Recruitment Code (VRC): a positive action intervention designed to establish inclusive practices of coach recruitment and increase the representation of minoritised coaches in first team coaching operations at men’s professional football clubs in England. In doing so, it draws on semi-structured interviews with Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) at clubs (n = 5), football stakeholder representatives (n = 14) and minoritised coaches (n = 26) to ascertain their perceptions, experiences, and reflections in relation to three inter-connected areas of focus. Firstly, the operational and attitudinal implementation of the VRC at clubs. Secondly, the effectiveness of the VRC in engendering its intended operational and representational impacts at clubs. Thirdly, critical reflections as to the ways in which the VRC might be reformulated and reimplemented to stimulate the conditions through which equality of opportunities, experiences, and outcomes for minoritised coaches might be realised. Finally, the article will conclude from a Critical Race Theory (CRT) perspective that racial equality measures of this kind should be strongly interventionist and transformational in their policy intentions and ideological scope, and seek to challenge and disrupt dominant liberal discourses of meritocracy, race-neutrality, colour-blindness, and the normativity of Whiteness in professional football coaching contexts. In doing so, the article calls on the EFL to work consultatively with member clubs, football stakeholders, and minoritised coaches to develop a holistic legislative and pedagogical approach to tackling racialised inequities in football coaching, which incorporate strongly regulated and reformatory positive actions.

KEYWORDS:

• Racialised
• inequities
• minoritised
• football
• coaching
• policies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The term ‘minoritised’ is used in this article to reflect an understanding of ‘minority status’ as a socially constructed process (rather than as an entity) which takes place in specific social, and political contexts over time, and which has resulted in ‘minoritised’ groups having less power or representation compared to other (dominant) groups in society. Whilst recognising that processes of ‘minoritisation’ are manifest and impact on differently ‘minoritised’ groups (such as women and LGBTQ groups) in different ways and to different extents, in this article the term ‘minoritised’ is used in a targeted way to refer to racially, ethnically, and culturally ‘othered’ populations experiencing myriad and overlapping forms of structural and cultural discrimination and disadvantage across a range of societal and sporting settings.

2. Notwithstanding reference to the broader international literature examining the relationship between ‘race’, ethnicity and sports coaching, the term ‘minoritised coaches’ is used more specifically in this study in a contextually apposite way to refer to first, second and third-generation Black-African, Black-Caribbean, South Asian and Dual-Heritage football coaches resident in England. In doing so, the authors remain cognisant that categorisations of this kind which seek to capture the commonalities and specificities of diverse minoritised identities and their varied and overlapping experiences remain conceptually limited and subject to academic contestation. Nonetheless, the authors proceed with some scholarly caution (and no small amount of theoretical and practical utility) in using the term ‘minoritised’ as a means of identifying and analysing the perceptions and experiences of ‘minoritised coaches’ (and other ‘minoritised’ stakeholders) in relation to the implementation and effectiveness of the VRC in the men’s professional football coaching contexts under review.

3. The Football Association (FA) is the governing body of association football in England. It is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the amateur and professional game, including coach education and development.

4. The English Premier League (EPL) is the organising body of the Premier League in England. It is responsible for administering its competition and has 20 member clubs.

5. The English Football League (EFL) is the organising body of the Football league in England. It is responsible for administering its three league competition (Championship, League One, League Two) and has 72 member clubs.

6. The Professional Footballers Association (PFA) is the professional players union in England. It provides support and guidance to existing and former professional players, including in relation to future career pathways in coaching.

7. The League Managers Association (LMA) is the representative body for football managers in England. It provides support and guidance to those working (or seeking to work) in coaching, management and governance positions in professional football.

8. Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic and the acronym BAME is presently the most recognisable term of self-identification used in British social and political discourse to refer to generationally settled and newly established in-migrant communities from ‘non-white’ backgrounds. The term is commonly used as a marker of racial, ethnic, and cultural identity in the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) plans and policies of UK sports bodies, including in professional football.