March 2017

Do you know who the most powerful black person is in English football? It’s not Rio Ferdinand, Didier Drogba or Ian Wright. Nor is it John Barnes or Thierry Henry. It’s a black woman by the name of Dame Heather Rabbatts who sits on The FA’s board.

And the most powerful black person in world football is arguably FIFA’s General Secretary, Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura – another hugely impressive woman.

At the Football Black List celebration we will highlight black women making waves in the industry.

Joining Dame Rabbatts on the 2016 list is Marcia Willis Stewart, the lead solicitor for the 76 families represented at the Hillsborough inquest, Samantha Johnson, TRT World’s sports correspondent, and Rachel Yankey OBE, the England legend turned broadcaster.

Multi- talented footballers Eniola Aluko and Alex Scott MBE, both highly respected in the sports media, football coach, Helen Nkwocha, and Arsenal in the Community worker, Celia Facey, complete the black female movers and shakers to be celebrated.

There are more encouraging signs. In the initiative’s Ones to Watch section four of the 10 listed are women, with broadcasters Mimi Fawaz and Jeanette Kwakye becoming increasingly visible in the sports media, while Hayley Bennett is tipped as a future senior administrator and Christina Oshodi’s great work continues to make a big impact at grassroots level.

On the face of it you could be led to believe that black women are well represented across the game – given the success of Rabbatts, Samoura and those on the 2016 list. But on the eve of the Football Black List celebration, I found myself looking back through the names honoured by the initiative since 2008 – and was disturbed by the lack of women.

Here are the stats. The first list published nine years ago had just two women on it from the 30 celebrated. Pretty abysmal. But more encouragingly, in 2016 we had eight women in the 30 listed.

The overall picture, however, is most concerning – with just 36 of the 285 spots across all the Football Black Lists going to women.

So why is this? Well, the under representation of women in the football industry is an issue full stop. And we know that black people are massively under represented across the sport, away playing. Marry the two issues together and the result is worrying to say the least. If you are black and female – it can be super tough to succeed.

When you consider the barriers black women face, it makes the achievements of the women on the lists even more remarkable.

And this is why the Football Black List celebration is really important – as I hope by highlighting these incredible women we will encourage many more to follow in their footsteps, smashing through the barriers of exclusion. Let’s not wait for this to get better with time. It’s time to act with urgency.

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The Football Black List celebration, supported by The Premier League, takes place ion the 28 March in London.

Leon Mann presents the D Word 2 Guide on diversity in the sports media

A guide designed to help the sports media become more diverse has been launched by the Black Collective of Media in Sport (BCOMS).

The D Word2 Guide offers expert guidance on how to address under-representation across broadcast, written and online media in sport.

Research conducted by BCOMS last year found just one woman was sent to the Euros across 51 roles by British newspapers. Across 456 roles, just eight went to black journalists who had not previously played professional sport. Only six of the 456 roles went to BAME women.

The content of the guide is based on contributions from the highly successful D Word2 Conference, hosted by BT Sport last October.

To launch the guide, top influencers from the sports media formed a panel to discuss diversity in the industry, reflect on the positive achievements of diverse sports journalists and explore the opportunities that outlets such as YouTube offer the next generation.

Guardian head of sport Owen Gibson, sports journalist and recent host of 2016 GLO CAF awards Mimi Fawaz, UK Sports Partners Manager at YouTube, Dan Pheysey, and the UK’s first black sports editor of a national daily newspaper Kadeem Simmonds from the Morning Star, made up the panel. Channel 4 news sports reporter Jordan Jarrett-Bryan hosted the launch.

The panel discuss diversity in the sports media at D Word 2 Guide launch

BCOMS founder Leon Mann, who presented the guide to those gathered at Waterhouse Square in London, said:

“The lack of diversity in the sports media right now is unacceptable, and we need greater commitment and conviction from decision makers to change this.

“This guide brings together the ideas discussed and debated at the conference, and serves as a list of action points for the industry. What we need now is to turn words into action and positive outcomes.”

You can download the D Word 2 Guide here.

Who were your role models growing up? Many of mine were black footballers. I was in love with the game and there were enough black and mixed race stars excelling on the big stage to make me believe that following in their footsteps was somehow achievable.

Statistically the chances of me becoming a top level professional footballer were at best very slim – but because of a connection through a shared identity, I seriously felt I could do it. And we can see the fruits of that dynamic on the pitch today. More than 30% of players are black or mixed race, compared to the same groups making up around 5% of the UK population.

But my hope – and mission – is to ensure that when young people from the black community think about a future in football, they see a range of options in front of them – on and off the pitch.

This is what the Football Black List is all about. Highlighting achievers from the boardroom to the boot room and beyond. Sending a message to young people from all communities that they are welcome and encouraged to join the football industry at all levels.

The facts beyond the pitch at the moment underline the challenge ahead.

No CEOs, No Chairmen and just two Directors of Football across 92 professional clubs paints a depressing state of affairs – but also makes shining a light on the leaders we do have all the more important.

Dame Heather Rabbatts is on The FA Board, Bobby Barnes is the President of the European division of FIFPro – the World Player Union, and Chris Hughton is flying high again in the EFL Championship with Brighton – as one of just three black managers in football.

These are the role models our young people, with a strong interest in sport, need to know more about.

I only became aware of the very few black senior decision makers in the industry after I had got a job in football. I had gone through University knowing more about black players in League Two than those sitting around the decision making tables.

The Football Black List is all about addressing this through celebrating individuals and creating a space for reflection. The industry says it wants to be more diverse off the pitch. Let’s make it happen.

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The Football Black List celebration, supported by the Premier League, takes place this month.