Football must be held accountable for how it tackles discrimination by the new independent regulator, a key parliamentary committee has said.
In the week where an independent report found evidence of “deep-rooted” discrimination in cricket, the Culture Media and Sport (CMS) committee insists football cannot be relied on to get its own house in order on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
It called for EDI measures to be included in a new code for football governance, and for the regulator to have powers to mandate and assess EDI action plans put together by clubs.
The Government is committed to legislating for an independent regulator for English football (IREF), with Sports Minister Stuart Andrew telling supporters in Manchester last weekend that it would be one of the first bills to progress after the King’s Speech in the autumn.
However, the Government said in its white paper on football governance published in February that it did not believe EDI matters should fall within the immediate scope of the regulator, something which frustrated anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out, particularly given the fan-led review had recommended EDI be in the regulator’s remit.
The CMS committee says it is “sceptical” football will come up with suitable collective standards by itself, given the “limited progress” it has observed.
A report from the committee, which recommended the Government set up the regulator in shadow form by the end of the year, stated: “We are concerned that the Government has ignored recommendations to include EDI Action Plans for clubs and oversight of these plans within IREF’s remit.
“We believe that IREF would be well placed to receive and publish standardised data on compliance with EDI requirements in football, as well as monitoring and enforcing compliance with equality standards through EDI Action Plans.
“We recommend that the Government should give IREF the authority to mandate EDI Action Plans as part of its threshold licence conditions for clubs. Clubs’ performances against these Action Plans should be assessed regularly by IREF as part of its routine licence reviews.”
Kick It Out chief executive Tony Burnett welcomed the committee’s recommendation and added: “Football has dragged its heels for too long when making the change needed to make it a more welcoming sport.
“There is still a lack of diversity in boardrooms, coaching and refereeing, while players and fans suffer from discrimination from the professional game down to grassroots. There has been progress, but a lack of collaboration and few solid outcomes over the past decade mean it’s time for the process to be accelerated.
“That is why we endorse the recommendations, already made in the fan-led review, that EDI measures are included in the new Code for Football Governance, and that action plans are part of a club’s licensing conditions.
“Placing equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of football’s governance will help the game grow, therefore safeguarding it for future generations.”
The Government will hold roundtable meetings over the coming months to drive forward EDI initiatives across the football pyramid as it continues to engage with the FA, leagues, fan representatives and civil society organisations.
The regulator should also set “substantially higher” fan engagement standards rather than accepting existing Premier League standards as the baseline, the committee said.
Football’s authorities were also warned to “get their act together” on a new financial agreement between the Premier League, the EFL and the FA, with the new regulator set to be given backstop powers to impose a solution via arbitration if one cannot be reached amongst themselves.
However, the PA news agency understands talks over the ‘New Deal For Football’ are progressing well, with regular talks taking place between the three bodies.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
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