How can we increase diversity among referees and match officials in English football? - Dr Daniel Kilvington & Arran Williams
In recent times, we’ve since seen the first black referee in 15 years in the Premier League, the first ever South Asian Premier League referee, the first woman to referee a Premier League game, the first woman of black heritage to referee in the English Football League (EFL) and the first openly gay man to referee in the EFL. These are just a few examples of the growing representation of match officials in the professional game.
PGMOL is the organisation that oversees the match officiating appointments, training and development for the men’s and women’s professional game in England. In 2022, they launched the Elite Referee Development Plan (ERDP) with a key strand aimed at increasing diverse representation.
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Hide AdAs part of this, PGMOL have worked in conjunction with The FA to create a targeted programme - CORE X - to offer greater resources to match officials from historically under-represented communities operating at the semi-professional levels of men’s and women’s football in England - with the aim of providing greater opportunities for them to progress into the professional game.
New and enhanced community-facing programmes such as the ‘Breaking Barriers’ series and strong partnerships with Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)-focused organisations such as BAMREF, Kick It Out, Nujum Sports and Football v Homophobia have been forged too - illustrating the positive strides PGMOL are making.
Now, PGMOL has formed a groundbreaking new partnership with Leeds Beckett University. We have secured funding through Innovate UK via the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme to form the partnership – with the first stage being to recruit a KTP Associate into the role of research and insights manager. They will be based full-time within PGMOL and responsible for monitoring, evaluating and developing PGMOL’s policies and strategies around EDI.
The project is giving PGMOL the opportunity to evaluate their current EDI provision - prioritising research to underpin and enhance future EDI policies and practices. Not only will we recruit the new full-time member of staff - but an academic team of experts will also join the project.
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Hide AdThe beauty of a KTP is that it values the importance of research and how data can help improve provision. The LBU and PGMOL partnership means that academic researchers and industry stakeholders have regular contact, sharing knowledge and ideas around how EDI policies and practices can be most effective, impactful and sector-leading.
PGMOL is committed to working closely with The FA, academic organisations like LBU and communities to ensure the organisation keeps taking positive and necessary strides for the good of the domestic and international game.
The LBU and PGMOL collaboration treads new ground and is innovative in its approach and outputs. Not only will the appointed KTP Associate be responsible for monitoring and developing practices across PGMOL, but they will be tasked with making connections with other match officiating bodies in football internationally and across other sports. We also plan to adapt the EDI focused educational and training resources created during the project for different audiences and sectors, including those outside of sport.
Dr Daniel Kilvington is reader and course director in Media and Cultural Studies at Leeds Beckett University and Arran Williams is equality, diversity and inclusion manager at PGMOL.
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