There's no problem having a black person on it as long as they deserve to be there - but is there a problem with not having one either? You don't want to go down the tokenism route.
There's nothing wrong with having black people on the board. But the board has to be made up of the right people - regardless of their colour. According to Dyke's letter before, there would have been a black person, in Clarke Carlisle, but his employers vetoed it. Other people were going to be named, but another story meant that other priorities overtook the naming of the panel members. The only thing this woman has done by her public intervention, has been to make the only black member of the board to be appointed look like nothing more than tokenism, undermining his position before he even gets a chance to attend the panel.
Hurrah for Rio Ferdinand! Just the sort of balanced, thoughtful, eloquent voice we need. His unequivocal views on drugs testing in sport will be welcomed I'm sure. Shame he is only 50% OBO.
I don't know about you, Asbo - but I'm pink. If you're white, I should get yourself to a doctor as soon as.......
In a bid by the FA to counter racism worries and in an attempt to gain the views of the 'man in the street', another person has been added to the commission... [video=youtube;3aoe9FtOChY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aoe9FtOChY[/video]
Back to the issue: I'm sure I heard that the ratio of black English players to white English players is not a reflection of the black-white ratio of the population. But if that is arguable, it certainly is not evinced in the make-up of this FA committee.
The trouble with trying to reflect all the different groups is that you can end up missing an ideal candidate in order to be 'inclusive', I reckon there's a number of non-English speaking players, should one of them sit on the board? What about tha lack of disabled people, should that be addressed for balance?
The committee's task is to examine ways of producing an England team. Disabled people will surely not be a part of that process; they have their own aims and issues. As for 'trying to reflect all the different groups', there would appear to have been no attempt to reflect reality....they might have moved on from the 'Blazers', but not by much. please log in to view this image Four City players; four black players; two English players - both black(/mixed race)....
I really don't see the problem with any of this. If someone moaned that it was an all-black panel that would be considered racist. Claiming the same thing for white people should be no different. These PC loonies need to stop looking for ridiculous places to claim there is inequality all the time.
Greg Dyke's commission breaches goodwill surrounding new FA chairman Former BBC chief's attempt to set up a panel into lack of homegrown players is reminiscent of other FA crises At Wembley on Monday, descendants of the founding fathers of English football lined up to honour their contribution to codifying the laws of the game 150 years ago. Given the shambles that has enveloped the FA chairman Greg Dyke's commission into the future of English football, some might say it is a good job their successors were not tasked with the job. Those few weeks following Dyke's call to arms, in which he eloquently set out the risk of England sliding into irrelevance if an alarming lack of homegrown players was not urgently addressed, have been a catalogue of calamities. Initially, inertia reigned: there were no terms of reference, no names, no overarching sense of what the commission hoped to achieve or how it would be staffed. That left Dyke on the back foot when it came to approaching panel members. Unable to advise them how much work would be required or for how long, he discovered many felt unable to commit. It is now understood David Gill, the FA director and former Manchester United chief executive, was one of several major names who felt unable to spare the time. Greg Clarke, the Football League chairman, remains committed but also has concerns over whether he will be able to carve out enough space in his schedule. That lack of planning led directly to problem No2: the lukewarm reaction accorded the initial, partial unveiling of the cast list at the Leaders in Football conference. Dyke, reading names from a scrap of paper, catalogued a list of participants who could individually be regarded as commendable but collectively reeked of the dead hand of FA blazerdom and a failure of imagination. As he did so, few would have noticed Heather Rabbatts – the FA's only board member from an ethnic-minority background – slip away, furious not only at a glaring lack of diversity but the lack of consultation. Her bombshell letter last weekend exposed not only her fears that the FA was still institutionally incapable of considering all parts of the game when making key decisions but also concerns over Dyke's modus operandi. Some who have worked with Dyke, and otherwise laud his magnetic personality and "cut the crap" management style, fear this failure to consult and tendency to make decisions on the hoof could be his achilles heel. Even more exposed than at the BBC and with less of a safety net, the FA chairman's job is a highwire act that risks embarrassment at every turn. Dyke was brave to set his stall out as he did, but all that has followed has been too reminiscent of other FA crises down the years. It is as though the organisation's muscle memory is forever primed to revert to panic mode. The Premier League could have done more to publicly support the commission but was bruised by the fact it had not been consulted before its unveiling. Its new chairman, Anthony Fry, told Dyke he would sit on it but then was persuaded to change his mind. The Premier League says it will contribute fully but remains half in and half out of the tent – ready to walk away whistling if it collapses. Yet its stance is partly understandable. The issue of homegrown players was debated to the point of exhaustion over the past five years. One review ended in stalemate among the ever-dysfunctional English football family. The second, which led to the year-old Elite Player Performance Plan, resulted in a credible strategy even if the jury remains out on its success. There was a feeling that Dyke failed to appreciate the progress made. The FA, reasonably, points out that just because certain parts of the game are not represented on the commission does not mean they will not be consulted. But without genuine buy-in from Premier League clubs, its impact will be limited.Former England full back Danny Mills pleaded for time. "It's like people are willing it to fail already, which is quite sad. It's a decent effort." Which depends on your definition of "decent effort". Dyke surfed into the FA chairman's job on a wave of goodwill and gives every impression of being a man in a hurry, seeking to make a difference in the four years he has in the role. In many ways that is laudable but not if it leaves the FA at risk of lurching from crisis to crisis, buffeted by events. In a former life, Dyke was famously able to call on Roland Rat to save TV-am. He may need more than a recalcitrant rodent to put his damaged, if not fatally wounded, flagship project back on track. http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/oct/21/greg-dyke-fa-commission
Which woman has the experience, stature, track record, respect etc within the game to warrant inclusion on merit? Absurd showboating by embittered Heather Rabatts. Can we demand a white judge at the MOBO awards? Is it appropriate to bewail a lack of English white reggae musicians and hint that there is a conspiracy to keep talented indigenous musicians out of the leading reggae bands or soundsystems?
2011 Census shows 5.5% of England's population was black/mixed race; England's 24-man squad for the Poland match contained 9 black/mixed race = 37.5%. Something works on that level......
