Awareness of racism faced on the pitch by footballers has been raised massively, but an overlooked aspect is the large difference in colour in senior leadership roles in football. Arib Dauhoo explores the psychological barriers and racism in senior roles.
When Andrew Ducille was invited to join the London FA committee promoting a game that everyone can play, no matter the race, he was promised that “while 55% of the members are white, 45% come from diverse backgrounds.” So as he attended his first meeting, he expected to see a room populated with people from different cultures, and different colours. Instead, he saw the more familiar backdrop of predominantly white faces with just a dash of diversity, “It was more like 25/30% if that and that’s a big if.”
Despite this underwhelming number, the FA prides itself on leading the battle against racism. While Andrew may not have been able to witness this, the FA have met them in other areas, such as achieving their target of ensuring that 25% of senior leadership roles are of BAME background in 2023, as reported by the FA.
Andrew was now part of that team to help achieve equality, a goal he has always worked towards in his work life, getting his first job in the industry at Charlton Athletic, as an alternative curriculum manager, after his footballing career was cut short at the age of 16 due to injury.
Having also been a social inclusion officer at Chelsea where he was responsible for, ‘making sure we were equal both on and off the pitch’, as Andrew puts it, he has seen the limitations there are for ethnic minorities, “the amount of talent that gets ignored is staggering.” A similar idea can be said for the rest of English football.
Discrimination and representation have always been major talking points within the game, with each board and each club aiming to improve. Yet, research shows they are wide of the goal. A report from the FA in 2021 found that English clubs are failing to meet ethnic diversity targets. Just 10.3% of the candidates hired for club senior leadership roles came from BAME backgrounds, which dropped below the 15% target. The numbers also do not seem to get better in the following years, with a report in 2023 from the Black Footballers Partnership showing that only 57 out of 1304 individuals in management roles are of colour.
These damning numbers not only show how much more needs to be done, but the numbers also demonstrate the psychological impacts on players and people of colour.
“It’s like any other career. When you don’t see people like you with the same skin colour in these high, senior roles, it makes players question if they are worthy of a role, affecting the way they think about themselves and their skills, making them doubt if they could make it,” says football psychologist Rayan Hemici.
Rayan was never the best at football but loved the game so much that he wanted to be involved. After studying psychology at university, he pursued a career in sports psychology, eventually specialising in football after six years. Now, the 37-year-old helps players in South London tackle mental barriers, including representation.
“The lack of representation in senior roles means ethnic players are already behind. They lack motivation or inspiration to take that next step, meaning they are not mentally prepared to make the jump,” Hemici said.
“Psychologically we like to see ourselves in others, and with the lack of that for players of colour, it is hard for them to see themselves performing more senior roles.”
Former players like Pep Guardiola naturally take many coaching and senior roles. According to the Szymanski Report 2023, between a third and a half of players in English football are of BAME heritage, therefore it would be assumed that many of these players would go on to take senior positions. As we have seen from reports from the FA, this is not the case.
An argument could be made that they do not have the skills to do the jobs, however, a 2024 report from the Black Football Partnership found that white players were 50% more likely to get into management and senior roles, as well as those from diverse backgrounds being 41% more likely to be fired from a senior role.
Rayan believes that this has to do with a psychological barrier those of BAME heritage face.
“Racial Stacking is the socio-psychological way people are perceived. Those who are black and from other backgrounds playing football would subconsciously be seen as athletic and strong but are also thought to be unintelligent and lack leadership.
“Their white counterparts are deemed to have those skills and are suitable for those senior roles.”
The role racial stacking plays in football is seen today. RunRepeat found that from 2000 commentary statements in 2023, BAME players were seven times more likely to be described as physically strong, but also received 63% of criticism for being unintelligent.
“If a black player has never been allowed to captain, lead or play in a central position, How are they meant to be seen as someone who could coach or manage a team?” Hemici said.
The 37-year-old also believes the psychological issues do not stop there.
“Fear also puts off ethnically diverse players from these senior roles. Not the fear of failure but the fear of experiencing racism.”
In the 2022-23 season, Kick It Out received 1,007 reports of discriminatory behaviour, which was up 67% from the previous season, showing how racism is still prominent today.
“Fear tells our brain when to avoid anything that may harm us. Every player has seen the racial abuse players face online and in person, they fear that for themselves. They then fear that in these senior roles, when the spotlight is on them, they are more prone to this abuse, hence they avoid it.”
There may not be any direct data to suggest ethnic managers do face higher amounts of racism than ethnic players. But, experiences from the likes of Vincent Kompany and Chris Hughton, two of the 11 BAME managers to have managed in the premier league in its entire history, according to GOAL, make it clear that it is still there.
While the likes of representation, racial stacking and fear do have mental impacts on non-white players when looking at senior roles, it is important to note action is being taken to improve the lack of diversity.
The FA and PFA have introduced programmes such as the Elite Coaching Placement to increase the diversity of coaches working in the game, as well as implementing its version of the “Rooney Rule,” which means clubs must interview at least one BAME individual for any coaching and senior role.
However, it is still clear more needs to be done to ensure that these psychological issues are eradicated and that a more colourful and diverse environment is displayed, the same one Andrew was promised.
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